Keeping Faith
by The Dragon's Lady
Summary: Summary: BTVSHP. Once again everything in Faith’s life has been shot to hell. She’s wanted by both the FBI and Watcher’s Council & for the first time in her life she doesn’t have a backup plan. By a twist of fate, she’s offered a solution to her problems
1. Escape

Timelines: In the Buffyverse, this takes place in season four, everything up to episode 70 "Goodbye Iowa" goes. This first Ch. is episode 71 "This Year's Girl" done my way. It has very little to do with the real episode.

For our beloved HP characters, who will not be seen for the first couple of chapters, it takes place in Harry's 7th year. I'm trying to make this fic according to canon but I've changed some things. For instance, Sirius did not 'die' in the end of Harry's fifth year and some other stuff I'll mention later on.

In order to try and make both of these worlds merge let's pretend that Buffy had decided to take some summer courses and started college in July and everything that's been going has all happened in that short period of time, kay?

Pairings: Faith/ undecided (major), Buffy/Angel (minor)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon and Harry belongs to J.K Rowling.

**CH. 1: Escape**

_How did I get here?_

_That was the first of many questions that crossed Faith's mind. But where was here?_

_All around her, for as far as she looked the only thing she could see was darkness. Or more correctly she could feel the darkness, just as she could feel the power that radiated from the place._

_But what in the world was she doing here? Faith had a nagging feeling that she'd been to this place before. There was something about it, a sense of belonging._

_She started to walk around aimlessly. She had no idea where she was going but something was pulling her along, leading her to someplace. After a couple of minutes of walking around, she felt new sensations wash over her. They were so strong they brought her to her knees. Fear, pain, anguish and there was something else in there too but she couldn't exactly place it. A feeling of nausea swept over her as she realized what she was sensing. It was Death._

_The place where she was standing had served as a death place for many people over the years and would continue to do so for a long time._

_Just then a door materialized in front of her. She could hear some voices but she couldn't make out what was being said. Faith stepped inside as was momentarily blinded by a bright flash of light. As the room dimmed again, Faith noticed that the room was not filled with people as she had originally thought. There were only two people in the room. One of them was cloaked so she couldn't see his face and the other was a kid. He couldn't have been more than eighteen. The strange thing was that they both were holding thin pieces of wood. Instinctively, she knew it was a wand although she wasn't particularly sure how she knew that. What the hell is going on? Faith speculated, as the cloaked person muttered something and a light shot out of the tip of the stick he was holding and hit the boy straight in the chest. Immediately he doubled over and lay on the floor twitching. He didn't scream, couldn't scream but Faith could tell that he was in immense pain. Almost as if he sensed her presence he turned towards her, his emerald green eyes boring into hers, imploring her to help him._

_And for reasons she couldn't fathom, she knew she had to help him. He would die if she didn't and if he died all would be lost. She would be lost._

_But that's crazy! She argued with herself, you don't even know him! Why should you want to help him? She ignored the voices of logic and tried to step forward but something was stopping her, an invisible barrier._

_As she watched helplessly, the cloaked man took out a sword and raised it. He let out a low chilling laugh and hissed menacingly, "The boy who lived shall live no more."_

_There was another bright flash and everything went black._

What the hell? Was the first coherent thought that came to Faith's mind as she slowly started to stir. She opened one eye groggily and grimaced when she saw how bright the room was. She looked around, from all the equipment she concluded that she was in a hospital. But why?

A sudden pain in her stomach when she tried to sit up was her answer. The last thing she remembered was her fight with Buffy when Buffy had stabbed her in the stomach with her own dagger.

"Bitch," Faith muttered as another surge of pain went through her body.

She laid back down and immediately started going through her options. One thing was certain; she had to get out Sunnydayle as soon as possible. Something told her that the Mayor's plan had not worked out, and since she had been his right hand man after Trick, she was most likely not gonna be welcomed back with open arms. She felt a twinge of sadness as she thought of the mayor. Even though he had been evil, he was the closest thing to a family she had ever had. That was one of the main reasons she had stuck with him, he had always treated her with a fatherly kindness and had actually cared for her.

She was deep in thought when her door suddenly opened and two men walked in. Quick as a flash, she resumed the position she had been when she'd woke up.

"I don't know, Nigel." one of the two said doubtfully, in a clear British accent.

Nigel? Faith thought frantically, oh no it couldn't be-

But when she heard him speak up she was sure. There was no mistaking his voice.

"Come on Jack," He cajoled, in that nasal Irish accent of his that had always driven her crazy. "What could possibly go wrong?"

Nigel Wilson, she thought in disgust, her first watcher, not that many people knew that. In fact, except for the people in the higher circles of the Council nobody did. She hated him with every fiber of her being and she wished nothing more than to see him dead. When they had first met back in Boston and he had told her that she was a Slayer, she had laughed in his face and told him no way. Even after she had met her first vampire she still refused to work for the Council. That's when he decided to try another approach. He had hired a Chaos Demon to kidnap one of her few true friends, forcing her to go after the demon. Faith had done just that, her friend's life had been in stake. She managed to defeat the demon but it had been too late. She had confronted Nigel but he had pretended to have no idea what she was talking about. So Faith had tried to seek justice from the council, but to no avail. It was one of the council's finest watcher's words against the word of a teenager who was known for her brash behavior and often violent temper and since she didn't have any proof they didn't believe her. The only thing they did was change her watcher 'to avoid further problems' they said.

"Father's counting on us to monitor her." The guy named Jack replied.

"What Travers won't know won't hurt him and besides we've been here for over two weeks and she shows no sign of waking up, so I sincerely doubt she'll wake up now. I know this is your first assignment and you're taking it seriously and that's a good thing but you're taking it a little _too_ seriously. Nobody will mind if we take a couple days off and the hospital will notify us if there's any change in her state." Nigel said.

Faith heard Jack sigh. "I suppose so. But I just don't see why we can't slip something into her IV tube and get rid of her now instead of waiting for her to wake up and kill her then."

Faith almost stopped breathing. Kill her? That's what they were planning to do with her? The thought had never crossed her mind. And what was up with the father business? She had never known that Quentin Travers had a son. A very evil son who wanted her dead, she thought with a mental scowl.

"Because we're looking at the big picture, not just her." Nigel said in an exasperated tone that suggested that they had been down this road many times before. "Remember, who's fault is it that's she's her in the first place?" asked Nigel.

It's all B's fault, Faith thought.

"That other slayer." Jack responded. "What was her name? Bunny?"

It took a lot of strength on Faith's part not to dissolve into laughter. Bunny, she repeated to herself, wait till Buffy hears that one.

"Not Bunny, Buffy. Now I know Faith, she's driven purely by emotion and impulse and she's most likely going to want to get her revenge."

Damn straight, Faith thought angrily.

"So she'll fight Buffy and with a little help from us get rid of her." Nigel continued. "She'll get the whole blame and we have another reason to kill her and when we do, we'll get two new slayers that will hopefully follow the council and once again we'll be in control." Nigel finished.

"You never fail to amaze me, Nigel." Jack said in an awed voice. "This was all your idea?"

"Yes." Nigel said proudly. "Of course your father helped work out the details and he was the first to ok the idea. He was never really a fan of Buffy's, not after she turned her back on the council."

That Bastard. He was planning on killing her and Buffy and he was going to use her to do it. She knew she had to get out of there and as soon as possible but where to go?

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to leave." Jack said.

"That's the spirit." Nigel said encouragingly. "Come on, let's go have dinner. It's on me."

The door squeaked open and seconds later slammed close announcing their exit. Faith opened her eyes. Yeah, they were gone. She sat up ignoring the pain in her stomach. She looked around the room and saw her clothes in the corner. She walked over there and took off the ugly shapeless hospital gown and put on her clothes.

"Oh look, they cleaned the blood off." Faith said smiling to herself.

She was about to sneak out the window when the door opened and an elderly nurse pushing a trolley walked in.

"Oh my goodness!" the nurse gasped. She turned around as if she was going to leave the room.

"Aww, shit." Faith cursed. She ran across the room, yanked the nurse in and shut the door with a bang.

The old woman looked completely terrified and Faith didn't blame her. No telling what kind of stories had been told about her.

"Look lady." Faith began. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just wanna ask you some questions. You give me the answers I'll go my way, you go yours and we'll never see each other again."

The nurse nodded slowly.

"Let's start with the date." Faith said.

"Today's August third." She answered.

"Holy crap, I've been out for over two months." Faith exclaimed. "What time is it?"

"It's nearly nine in the evening." The nurse said after a quick consultation with her watch.

"Nine?" said Faith as a thought occurred to her. If she was lucky she might catch Buffy on patrol. It would be much easier to talk to her alone than with all the Scoobies around. Faith shook her head. "What am I thinking? I actually just considered going to B for help."

The nurse looked at her with wide eyes. "Can I please go now?"

"Yeah, yeah." Faith said distractedly. "And if anybody asks, you never saw me."

The nurse nodded before hurriedly leaving the room.

With a grimace, Faith went out the window and started climbing down the fire escape. It was a little too windy for August, she thought inanely. She jumped down the last couple of feet and started walking towards the main cemetery thinking how lucky it was that it wasn't far from the hospital.

"What am I saying? Nothing's too far from anywhere in Sunnydayle." she said aloud. Talking to yourself was a always a good sign of insanity but it always made her feel less alone.

And she definitely was alone unless she could think of a way to get Buffy to help her. So far she had zero plans and by the time she got to the cemetery, she still hadn't thought of a plan. Oh well, she could always try the, 'hey B. remember me? Faith? You know the one who backstabbed you, double-crossed you, and tried to kill you more than once? Well, I'm in a really bad position and I need some help, care to offer any' approach. Like hell that would work but it was worth a try.

She walked into the silent cemetery. Silence is never a good sign, she thought as she nearly tripped over a headstone that lay askew. Suddenly she got the feeling that she was being followed. Listening carefully, she heard the sound of branches snapping and rustling leaves as whoever was following her came closer. She whirled around, going to fighting stance, waiting for her enemy to show himself. A minute later she got her wish.

"Fuck." Faith said as she came face to face with a pack of Pergola Demons and she remembered that she was weaponless.

Buffy peered suspiciously at Spike.

"You sure?" she said for what seemed the hundredth time. There was a collective sigh.

"For the last time, Slayer. No, I do not have any bloody tens." He said, "Go Fish."

"All right, all right." Buffy said as she reached towards the deck. "Hey, he might've been lying."

"Buffy, if he had been lying, I seriously doubt you would've known by staring at him for ten minutes straight." Giles said giving her an amused look over the top of the book he was reading.

Buffy pouted. "But he's Spike!" she said as if that explained everything. "I _know_ for a fact that he was going to cheat."

"Excuse me?" said Spike disbelievingly.

"What?" Buffy said innocently. "I didn't say anything wrong."

"You just called me a cheater for no reason." Spike said indignantly.

"Please you two." Said Willow wearily, "Don't even start."

"He started it." Buffy said automatically.

"Sorry Buff," said Xander taking a slice of pizza. "Much as I hate to say it, it was your fault, this time."

Buffy was about to protest when the doorbell rang. They all looked at the door then at Giles.

"I'm not getting it." He said.

"It's your house." Buffy replied, going back to her cards. "Do you have any fives?" she asked Xander.

Giles sighed and stood up to open the door.

"Agent Marc. FBI."

They all froze. Xander who had just been about to give Buffy a five stopped and whispered, "The FBI? What are they doing here?"

Buffy was just as confused as he was, "No idea but past experience –and TV- has taught me that FBI almost and bad news go hand in hand." She replied before standing up and dusting herself off. She walked towards Giles and the FBI man. "Can we help you with something?"

The man regarded her strangely. "Are you Ms. Buffy Summers?" he asked briskly.

"Depends." Buffy retorted. "Who wants to know?"

"We do. We have a couple questions for you." He said.

Buffy exchanged a look with Willow who shrugged.

"Shoot." Said Buffy perching herself on the edge of the table.

"It's about your friend, Faith." He said, watching her closely for any reaction.

"What?" Buffy said. That was definitely not what she had been expecting.

"You knew her." It was a statement not a question.

"Yeah so?" she asked suspiciously.

"And you were friends with her." He went on.

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends." Buffy said uncomfortably.

"Either way, you're probably the person she'd come to for help if she was in trouble."

"Faith? Come to me for help?" Buffy snorted. "It'll be a cold day in hell before that happens."

"With all due respect, sir," Giles cut in. "If I may inquire what all of this is leading up to?"

"Well, as you know she was in a coma till-"

"Was?" Buffy said. "You mean as in she's not in a coma anymore?"

The agent nodded. "She's also not in the hospital either and the nurse that was assigned to her was found in the room, unconscious earlier this evening."

"And you think Faith had something to do with it?" Buffy said emotionlessly.

The agent looked grave. "We're pretty sure she did. She's also wanted for questioning in a couple of local murders that took place before she went into the coma."

"Murders?" Willow whispered.

The agent turned to look towards Willow before turning back to Buffy. "I take it that you haven't heard from her." He stated.

Buffy shook her head numbly.

"Well, if you do please get in touch with us." He said, giving Giles a card.

"We will." Giles said automatically. The agent nodded and left.

"This is unexpected." Giles said after a while.

"You're telling me." Buffy said with a bitter laugh. "As if I already don't have enough to deal with. Now I've got the FBI breathing down my neck."

"Who's Faith?" asked Spiked curiously.

"Spike, shut up." said Buffy rubbing a hand over her eyes.

"Is she that Slayer that went all evil?" asked Spike, ignoring her.

"You know what Spike?" Buffy said threateningly. "I'm giving you two seconds to shut you're trap before I do something that _you_ will regret."

"Touchy, touchy." Spike said delightedly. "Was she stronger than you? Or was she-

Buffy hit him square on the nose. "I warned you. Xander, tie him up again, he's getting annoying."

Giles cleared his throat. "What are you planning to do?"

"About Faith?" she asked.

Giles nodded.

"Not a damned thing." Buffy said.

"This is not good." Faith muttered, as she backed up. There had to be at least twelve demons. Is she had a stake or her dagger with her, the number would have meant nothing to her, but since she had neither and hadn't fought for a good two months, she was starting to think the odds were against her.

Without warning, one of the demons attacked. He aimed a punch at her head. She ducked and countered with a swift sidekick to the chest that sent him flying. The other demons were quickly closing in. She managed to punch two of them and narrowly avoided being stabbed by another.

"Forgot about those skewers," She said as she sent yet another demon flying. Just then she was attacked by two of them from behind. She was busy trying to fight them off so she didn't see the demon sneaking up on her from her left. In fact she didn't notice anything until he used one of his bone skewers to stab her in the stomach.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" she screamed as she fell to her knees and clutched her stomach. It was the same spot that Buffy had stabbed her. At that moment, she knew that she was done for. There was no way she could stand up much less fight them.

All of the demons were starting closing in on her and then they weren't.

"Wha?" Faith gasped. All the demons that had surrounded her were gone. There was nothing left of them but dust. She almost didn't notice the shrouded person standing behind the trees. Almost. But she didn't care. She had other problems to worry about, for example, the hole in her stomach. She tried to stand up but fell down almost immediately. She gritted her teeth and tried again, this time managing to stay upright. The pain was almost unbearable but she knew that she had to get help. Besides, who knows what other big bads she'd meet if she stayed put. Lucky that the watcher's apartment was nearby.

"What?" Giles said.

"What?" Xander and Willow echoed.

"You heard me," Buffy said stubbornly. "I'm not going to do anything until I see some proof."

"What are you talking about?" Giles said.

"The story just doesn't make sense." She said. "Why would Faith attack somebody-"

"Excuse me?" Xander interrupted. "We're talking about Faith here. She attacked me before and she's tried to kill you more than once."

"Xander, please let me finish my sentence. As I was saying I don't think Faith would attack somebody _for no good reason._ She's attacked us before because she's got something against us but a harmless nurse? Come on, that doesn't sound like her."

"Buffy, we thought we knew Faith before but she turned on us. No telling what she's capable of." Willow said gently. "Besides, we know for a fact that she was involved in the murders that the Agent was taking about. Granted, that some of them were demons masquerading as humans but she still has to pay for her actions."

"But she helped us." Buffy argued feebly.

"Only in your dream," Xander reminded her.

"Giles?" Buffy said desperately. "What do you think?"

"I think you shouldn't get involved at all." He said firmly. "Leave it to the FBI and the Council."

"The Council?" Buffy repeated. "They're involved in this?"

"If they're not yet they will be soon." Giles said.

"So your advice to me is not to do anything till the Council and the FBI gets to her?" Buffy asked.

Giles sighed, "Buffy I know you feel guilty because you're the one who had landed her in that coma in the first place but I really don't think there's anything we can do to help her. She made her bed, now it's time for her to lie in it."

"Giles," Buffy pleaded.

Giles sighed. "Alright, if she comes knocking on our door and asks for our help, we'll try and help her do the right thing but until then I'm telling you it would be better if you didn't get caught up in this mess."

"Deal," Buffy said.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"Not again." Giles groaned as he left to open it. The door bell rang again insistently. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He called.

He pulled the door open.

"Oh dear lord," He said. "Faith!"

Faith tried to smile but that made her stomach hurt even more. "Hey G-man, how's it going?" she said hoarsely.

It was then that Giles noticed her wound and blood-soaked shirt. "You're bleeding! What happened? Are you okay?"

"Five by Five." Faith said and fell to the floor in a dead faint.


	2. Vampires and Letters

**CH. 2: Vampires and Letters**

The minute Buffy heard Giles's exclamation she was on her feet and running towards the door, with Xander and Willow right behind her. For a moment they all just stood there, not saying anything and staring at the brunette that lay on the floor.

It was Xander who broke the silence. "Giles, my man. You sure you don't have ESP or something?" he joked.

Giles looking very bewildered shook his head. "I assure you this is the last thing I expected to happen." He said.

"Well, what do we do now?" Willow asked.

"Xander, hold the door while I carry her in," Buffy said quietly.

She saw Xander exchange uneasy glances with Willow out of the corner of her eye and waited for him to speak up.

"Buffy, I don't think we should do that. She might be dangerous." He said. "We don't we just call the FBI dude and he can come get her?"

"Excuse me?" Buffy said. "The girl is lying there in a pool of her own blood and you're trying to tell me she _might be dangerous_?"

Xander sighed; he knew there was no arguing with Buffy when she started using that certain tone of voice. He moved back to hold the door open as she carefully picked up Faith and took her inside. He closed the door and followed her into the living room.

"What do you think happened?" Buffy asked Giles, after making sure Faith was settled on the couch.

"As far as I can tell, she's been stabbed but by whom or with what, that I can only guess." He said, taking off his glasses and wiping them absentmindedly.

Buffy nodded, "What are we gonna do now?" she asked.

Giles sighed. "Since taking her to a hospital is out of the question, I'll try and dress her wound the best I can and Willow, it might be helpful if you did a simple healing spell."

Willow gave a quick nod, "I'm on it." She said, going to the cupboard where the magical supplies were.

"Do you want me to do something?" Buffy asked. _Please say no; please say no_ she prayed silently. The sight of all the blood was making her sick not to mention bringing back some unpleasant memories.

Giles must have noticed because he just shook his head and said, "Not at the moment."

Buffy inwardly gave a sigh of relief. "I'll be out on the balcony if you need me."

Giles nodded and Buffy made her way out the room and onto the balcony. She took a deep breath of fresh air. She didn't know why but there was something about being high up and looking down on the sleeping city that relaxed her. And god knows she needed to be relaxed. She had almost upchucked when she saw Faith lying on the floor in a dead faint, blood seeping from the wound in her stomach and her face pale from all the blood loss. Somehow she had looked so vulnerable. Buffy let out a snort. Yeah right, as if, she thought. Vulnerable was the last word anybody would use to describe Faith, Buffy included. But right now Buffy didn't know what to think. When Faith had first started her 'I'm bad' thing, Buffy had wanted nothing more than for the girl to be dead, but when Buffy had actually tried to kill her and had put her in a coma, Buffy wanted her to live. Now that she was out of the coma, she had no idea what she wanted. Buffy sighed and propped her chin in her hands. She gazed at the stars. If only Faith would be sorry for what she had done then everything could go back to normal. But what exactly was normal? She wondered.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Came a voice from the doorway.

"Oh hey Xan," said Buffy trying to smile but failing miserably.

Xander walked to her side. "Thinking about Faith?"

Buffy sighed and ran a finger thru her blonde locks. She wouldn't lie to Xander, she couldn't. He'd see right thru it. "Yeah," She replied softly.

"Buffy what happened was not your fault." He said.

"Do you really believe that?" Buffy scoffed.

Xander was a bit taken back. "Of course I do." He said after a moment's hesitation.

Buffy turned to face him. "Xander, when I left that night I had every intention of killing her, when I plunged that knife into her stomach I knew exactly what I was doing. It was _my_ hands that were stained with her blood." She said, her voice etched with the pain and guilt brought back with the memories.

Xander was quiet for a minute. "Who are you trying to convince Buff?" he asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy demanded.

"Who are you trying to convince you're guilty?" he asked. "Me? Yourself? Or maybe both."

Buffy started to protest but Xander held up a hand. "Just hear me out Buffy. You did what you had to do. You didn't have much of a choice. And don't try to tell me I don't know what you were going thru." He added when he saw Buffy open her mouth to speak. "I may have not have had gone thru what you did but I am one of your best friends and I can read you like a book." He paused. "Okay the last part was a lie."

Buffy shook her head and laughed. "Thanks Xander." She said.

"For all the wonderful advice I gave you?" he asked hopefully.

"No, for making me laugh." Buffy said with a smile.

"That's what I'm here for." Xander said with an exaggerated bow.

Faith groaned as she groggily opened her eyes. She had a stabbing pain in her stomach and a weird feeling of déjà vu. Plus, her muscles felt sore and cramped from sleeping on the couch. Sleeping on the couch? What the hell was she doing on a couch? Before she had a chance to contemplate the thought further, somebody bellowed. "SHE'S AWAKE!" and caused her to jump nearly three feet in the air. She quickly scanned the room for the source and frowned in disgust when she located it. Harris. The idiot. Now thanks to him she had a headache in addition to her already aching muscles and the pain in her stomach and for some reason she couldn't explain she felt nauseous. All in all, Faith was feeling pretty rotten. "You just had to do that." She muttered, sending Xander her most evil glare.

Just then, Buffy, Red and the Watcher entered the room. They all stared at her coldly without saying a word including Harris who had moved from his place on the couch to where his friends stood.

"Well I wasn't exactly expecting a welcome party." Faith said dryly, breaking the ice.

"Cut to the chase, Faith. What the hell do you want?" Buffy asked.

"Nice to see you too, B. and I'm fine, thanks for asking." Faith said sarcastically.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "How cute. Like you actually give a damn." She said. "Now you mind answering my question?"

Faith grinned cockily. "Hmm, let me think about that." She pretended to ponder over the matter. "You know what. I've decided I do mind and I'm not gonna answer."

Faiths had been hoping that by going up against Buffy even if it was only verbally she (Buffy) would get pissed off and lose her temper. Surprisingly, she didn't. She walked over to Faith, bent down, and looked her straight in the eye. There was nothing but disgust, controlled fury and coldness in her eyes and the sight of that alone was enough to make Faith think that maybe wising off to her wasn't the smartest way to get her to cooperate.

"Faith I'm only gonna say this once so listen up. You are here on _my _turf. When I ask a question you answer, you don't ask any questions, I don't answer any questions. Clear?" she said.

Even though Faith knew she had already pushed Buffy she couldn't help but smirk, give her a mock salute and say, "Yes sir!"

"Obviously not, because you're still acting like a royally screwed bitch," Buffy sighed. "Look, Faith it is obvious that you come to Giles because you need our help with the council and the FBI. Just so you know I will not hesitate to turn you in if you give me the chance to. Now are we clear?" she said.

Faith wanted nothing more than to tell Buffy to go to hell but she knew that Buffy was right. Half of her wondered how Buffy knew about the Council and what the hell she had meant when she said the FBI was hounding her. The other half of her was in a complete state of panic, mostly because for the first time in a long time, she had no idea what to do. If she gave in to Buffy she'd be safe, at least for a while and that would be long enough for her to work something out since she didn't want to be in Buffy's debt forever. But if she didn't, Buffy would probably stay true to her word and Faith would find herself sitting in a rotten cell faster than you could say 'royally screwed bitch'. So Faith swallowed her pride for what she promised herself, was the first time and the last and slowly nodded. She could always get her revenge later.

Buffy appeared satisfied. She walked back to Giles and motioned she wanted a word with him. With only Red and Harris in the room with her, Faith's usual cocky arrogance returned. "I see you guys are missing a couple of people." She noted. "Where's the wolf and Cordy not to mention the other Watcher and Dead Boy?"

Faith saw Red and Harris exchanged uneasy glances.

"What?" said Faith feigning shock. "Don't tell me that the Scoobies broke up?"

"Stuff it, Faith." Xander said with an edge to his voice.

"But why?" she said this time feigning innocence, which probably would've been more effective had she not been smirking. "All I did was ask a question. I was just wondering. I mean, I expected Cordy to be gone the same for the idiot Wesley but the wolf. I thought he'd be around." Faith gave Willow a look of fake pity. "What happened Red, he dump you?"

Willow's eyes seemed to glow for a second and the next thing Faith knew she had fallen off the couch with a very loud thump. She looked up to see Red's triumphant smile.

"Very nice, Will," Xander said his admiration clear in his voice. "I didn't know you could do that."

"Neither did I." Willow admitted.

Buffy who had heard the thump Faith had made when she fell on the floor came running into the room. "What the heck just happened?"

"Faith was being herself and getting on everybody's nerves so Will used her Wicca to push her off the couch." Xander volunteered.

"Actually I levitated her." Willow said, kind of proudly. "It's something I've been working on for a while."

"You did? Willow that's great!" Buffy said, pleased by her friend's actions.

"Not for me." Faith muttered, shakily getting up.

"It was your fault." Buffy retorted.

Faith merely glared at her. Buffy returned her gaze evenly.

"Ahem," Giles cleared his throat, interrupting what would've probably turned into a very long staring contest. "Faith, perhaps you'd like to tell us exactly what happened starting from the moment you woke up."

Faith opened her mouth to say that she wouldn't like to but Buffy had anticipated this. "Giles's just trying to be polite; you don't really have a choice." She said with a smirk looking a lot like Faith had just moments ago.

Faith sighed; this was going to be one helluva long night. For a fraction of a second, she thought about telling them about the dream but then decided against and started with waking up to hear Nigel and Travers's son's conversation. She described their plan in detail and went on to tell them about her escape and finally concluded with her fight with the demons.

"Are you sure that's what they're planning to do?" Buffy asked anxiously once Faith had finished telling her tale.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? The Council wants you dead, B. D-E-A-D," Faith said for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"Oh my god, you can spell." Xander muttered darkly. He also hadn't taken the news well.

"Watch it, Harris," Faith warned. "I can still kick your ass and I will if you don't stop getting on my nerves."

For once Buffy ignored her. Instead she turned to Giles. "Giles what do you think?"

"I'm not surprised." He admitted. "I always knew that there was a chance that would happen when you decided to leave the Council."

"And you didn't tell me, why?" Buffy gripped.

"I thought it was for the best." Giles said firmly.

"Really?" Buffy said sarcastically. "In what way?"

"It would've distracted you." Giles answered.

"Right. Well, it is very distracting news." Buffy said, turning away from him.

"So you guys will help me?" Faith asked. She hated asking that, but she had to know for sure.

That little fact did not go unnoticed by Buffy who smiled grimly. "it just kills you to say that, doesn't it?"

Faith clenched her teeth. "It's a simple yes or no question, B."

Buffy looked at Giles, and it was obvious this had been discussed before. "Yeah, sure, whatever." Buffy said trying to act nonchalant. "You can stay at Giles's."

Faith looked towards Giles for reaffirmation. "

"Considering the fact Spike has already invaded my home, I don't see why you can't stay here." Giles said with a sigh.

Faith looked at Buffy and mouthed 'Spike?' the name sounded familiar but she wasn't sure where she heard it before. Buffy shook her head and gave her a look that said, 'you don't wanna know and if you do _I _don't wanna talk about it'. Faith shrugged.

The others started making arrangements and Faith quickly got bored. "Hey people, where's the bathroom, I gotta go take a piss."

Willow and Xander both looked at her with disgust. "You could've left out the last part." Xander said.

"Nah," Faith said with a grin. "The look on G-man's face was worth it."

Giles's face had turned an interesting shade of pink like it always did when some certain issues came up.

"It's down the hall on your left." Buffy answered who, despite herself, was laughing at Giles's expression.

"Down the hall, left," Faith repeated leaping up from the couch. "Ooh, shouldn't do that for a while." She said with a wince.

"You guys," Willow said after Faith had gone. "We forgot to tell her about Spike."

"She'll find out." said Xander.

Two seconds later they heard Faith start swearing than yell, "GILES! B! WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A SLEEPING VAMPIRE IN THE BATHTUB?"

"Not a moment too soon." Xander said with a grin.

**Nearly a week later**

If somebody had told Buffy a month, even a week ago that Spike and Faith would instantly become really good friends, she would've taken them to the nearest mental hospital. And if somebody had told Faith that she would one day become friends with a vampire, they would've become Faith's new punching bag but that was only if they were lucky.

Faith had to admit Spike was a major hottie, and if it weren't for the fact she didn't screw vampires (She left that to B) they would've been doing the dirty as soon as they met. But after they had met it became obvious that even if he weren't a vampire, they probably wouldn't have had _that_ kind of a relationship because they were meant to be friends.

For some reason Faith couldn't explain she really identified with Spike, it wasn't only the fact that they both were planning to turn Buffy's life into a living hell, which they were and as Faith found out having somebody to plan with was very useful not to mention lots of fun, but that wasn't it. It was the fact that he understood her so well and actually listened to her and contrary to the popular belief he sometimes had good advice, especially if it came to making Buffy's life a mess.

Which was what they were doing on that evening, they were both sitting in the living room, with the curtains tightly drawn coming up with a plan. It probably wouldn't happen but it kept her mind off of other things including her reoccurring dreams.

"So what I was thinking was-" started Spike after taking a long drag from his cigarette.

"Don't tell me you're still trying to think up ways to get back Buffy?" Willow exclaimed coming out of the kitchen. She was the only one of the Scoobies there. It was some unwritten rule between them to never leave their two 'prisoners' alone.

"So what if we are?" Spike replied indignantly. "There's nothing else to do."

"Yes there is." Willow disagreed. "You could watch T.V or read book."

"There's nothing good on T.V!" Spike complained.

"And Red, the last time I picked a book was in grade school." Faith said with an almost apologetic smile.

"Fine! Go back to your planning! See if I care." Willow huffed before heading back to the kitchen.

"As I was saying, I think it would be brilliant if we-" Spike began once again.

This time the phone's ringing interrupted him.

"Would you mind getting that luv, I'm a bit too lazy." Spike said.

"That would be a major understatement if I ever heard one." Faith mumbled.

"Vampire hearing, I can hear you." Spike grinned.

"I know that, I'm not stupid." Faith said.

It was Spike's turn to mutter under his breath. "_That_ I am not so sure about."

"Slayer hearing, Spike." Faith reminded him with a grin of her own. The phone kept ringing.

"Well, whoever's calling must have something urgent to say because it looks like they're not planning to give up." Spike commented. "Better get up and answer it, Fai."

"Do not call me that and why don't you get it?" Faith asked.

"I've already said I'm too lazy."

When it became obvious the caller wasn't going to hang up any time soon, Faith got up in a huff to answer it all the time muttering about 'lazy-ass blondes'.

"Talk." Faith said once she picked it up.

"You know Faith most normal people answer the phone by saying hello, or good morning, or something to that effect." Spike called.

Faith shot him a dirty look. "Well, it's good thing we've already decided that I'm not a normal person, isn't it?" She replied before turning her attention back to the phone. For some reason the person on the other end was very quiet.

"Hey listen if you're just another of those really fucked up people who call other people and start to make weird breathing noises you've picked the wrong person to mess with." Faith said.

"Faith?" the person on the other line said incredulously. Faith recognized the voice but it came as shock and she nearly dropped the phone.

It was Angel. At the same time Faith was hit with the most brilliant idea to get back at Buffy with.

"Oh hey _Angel_!" said Faith overenthusiastically giving Spike, who looked dumbstruck, a very gleeful look. "How ya been?"

"Fine." He answered automatically. "You're out of the coma?"

"Duh, considering that I'm talking to you and all." Faith said, twirling the cord around her finger.

"And what are you doing at Giles's house?" Angel demanded, starting to get over his shock.

"Well, we are currently having a torrid affair and we decided that it would be easier to get inside each other's pants if we were actually living together." Faith said, with an almost maniacal smile as she perched herself on the coffee table and watched amusedly as Spike choked on the swig of coke he had just taken and started having a coughing fit.

After a few moments of silence, Faith said. "Oh come off it Angel, I was just kidding. I needed a place to crash and Giles's was the only one available and besides did you really think I'd do Giles? The guy is so old and not my type."

More silence. "Angel, you there?" Faith asked.

"I'm just trying to rid my mind of that very disturbing image you gave me." Angel said. "Now if you're done can I speak with Giles?"

"He's not here." Faith said truthfully.

"Oh," Angel sounded surprised and with good reason. His attempted murderer was sitting in the house of one of his, for lack of better words, friends without said friend being there. "Well, can I talk to Buffy then?"

Finally, Faith thought. "She's not around either," said Faith, an inane grin on her face. "She's _so_ busy these days."

Spike looked at her. His look clearly said 'what in the bloody hell are you on about?'. Faith returned his look with one of her own, which said 'you'll see.'

"I understand-"

But Faith wasn't finished yet. "What with the wedding plans and all that crap." She continued. Spike had told her about the and since she knew for a fact that Buffy hadn't told Angel and wasn't planning to, she thought it was the perfect way to get back at her.

Understanding lit up in Spike's eyes and he lunged for the phone. Faith leapt up (her stomach no longer hurt) and danced away from him.

"Wedding?" asked Angel with controlled surprise.

"Oh yeah, she's out looking for a dress for her mom." Faith said casually still trying to get away from Spike.

She could almost feel Angel's relief. "I'm surprised you didn't know. I was sure from how _close_ you and B _used _to be that she would invite you to her _own_ wedding." Faith said, trying so hard not to laugh. Spike shook his head and mouthed 'brilliant'.

"Buffy's getting married?" Angel asked faintly.

Took you long enough, Faith thought. "Um, yeah, who'd you think I was talking about?" she asked pretending to be puzzled.

Angel ignored her question and asked one of his own. "Who's she marrying?" he growled.

"Spike!" Faith said happily. "Honestly they make the cutest couple! _Everybody _who sees them together thinks, oops I mean _knows_ they were perfectly made for each other."

"Wait a sec Spike? Spike as in the bleached blonde vampire?"

"He's a fake blonde? How come I never knew that?" Faith asked, momentarily distracted. Spike kicked her in the shin. "Ow! I mean, yes! The one and only."

"How the hell did that happen?" Angel asked and from the tone of his voice Faith was sure he'd morphed into vamp face and was about ready to commit murder.

"Well, Spike proposed to her a few weeks ago and Buffy said yes and they've been together ever since." Faith said who was once again trying to keep the phone away from Spike.

Angel was so gullible when it came to Buffy it hadn't even occurred to him that I might be lying, Faith thought. The same thought was running thru Angel's mind at the moment and he was thinking about hanging up and calling again later. It was very fortunate for Faith that Willow came storming out of the kitchen just then.

"Who in the world did you just tell that to?" Willow demanded with her hands on her hips. "You know Buffy wanted to keep it a secret!"

She couldn't have put it any better. Thanks to being a vampire Angel heard Willow perfectly.

"Give me Willow. Now." he demanded tartly.

"As you wish." Faith said with a smirk. This was just gonna get better. "He wants to talk to you, Red." She gave the phone to Willow and sat down calmly on the couch.

Willow looked at her curiously before talking. "uh, hi."

When she heard the voice, she dropped the phone. "I can't believe you!" she hissed at Faith. "You were talking to Angel? Angel, of all people? He's the last person on the earth Buffy'd want to know."

That was all Angel needed to hear. "YOU MEAN IT'S TRUE? BUFFY GOT ENGAGED TO THAT JERK?"

Willow hastily picked up the phone and held it to her ear, which was completely unnecessary since Angel was bellowing so loud, you could've heard him in China.

"well, technically yes but calm down, she did but she didn't want you to know because-"

"WELL OF COURSE SHE WOULDN'T WANT ME TO KNOW I WOULD'VE STAKED THE ASSHOLE AND THEN DEALT WITH HER."

Seeing that her approach wasn't working, Willow tried another one. "Look it's nothing to get excited about. All they did were some kissy face and a lot of I love yous, nothing major." She said. The minute the words were out of her mouth, Willow knew that is was the wrong thing to say.

"WHAT? I SACRFICE OUR RELATIONSHIP SO SHE CAN LEAD A NORMAL LIFE AND WHAT DOES SHE DO? SHE GETS ENGAGED TO SPIKE!"

"Better believe it, mate." Spike shouted.

"WHAT THE HELL IS _HE_ DOING THERE?"

Spike stood up and forcefully took the phone from Willow. "Ello, peaches. Since Giles's is pretty much like a father to my fiancé, that pretty much makes him my future father-in-law, which pretty much makes me initialed to stay at his place." Spike grinned, ducking the objects that were zooming at him from Willow who had given up trying to wrench the phone from his grip.

"SPIKE IF YOU DO ANYTHING TO BUFFY I SWEAR I'LL-"

But what he was going to do, nobody found out because at that moment Willow pulled out the phone plug.

"Why'd you do that Red, you ruined my fun." Spike said disapprovingly.

"Who the hell gives a damn about your fun! You just about ruined Buffy's life!" Willow shrieked on the verge of hysterics. "How am I going to explain this to her?"

But her cries of outrage feel on deaf ears. Faith and Spike were too busy laughing which made Willow even madder.

"This is not funny!" Willow shouted her face getting red, which clashed horribly with her hair. "When Buffy comes home you two are so dead! She'll kill you, dance on your grave, and then revive you so she could kill you again! After that she's gonna – EEK!" Willow screamed as something flew in from the window and landed on her hair.

This made Faith jump up in surprise and only made Spike laugh even harder.

"What the-" Faith muttered.

"Get it off me! Get it off me!" Willow continued screaming.

Apparently it was an owl that landed in her hair. The owl flew off her head with a hoot and appeared offended. Strangely enough it was carrying what appeared to be a letter. On instinct, Faith walked over and took it off his leg.

"Wiggy." Faith said when she saw it was addressed to her. It even stated where she slept. How much they creepy was that?

She tore open the envelope and took out the paper. Or at least she thought it was paper, it was stiff and heavier than normal paper. She started reading the contents and was so mesmerized, she didn't notice when the owl flew out the window. She stared at the paper in disbelief and except for muttered curses every now and then didn't say anything. She read the paper again and again but she still couldn't come to terms with what it said. She looked up dazedly.

"You okay Fai?" Spike asked worriedly, having finally stopped laughing when he saw the expression on her face.

"Five by five." Faith said mechanically, still in shock. "Look, I'm gonna go out. I need some air."

By now Spike was very worried, she hadn't snapped at him when he had called her Fai. That definitely meant something was up. "Faith, you can't go out, it's not safe."

"Oh yeah," Faith challenged charging towards the door. "Just watch me." She opened the door and closed it behind her with a slam.

"What just happened here?" Willow asked slowly.

"I don't know but I sure as hell know it has something to do with that." He said nodding towards the paper that had fallen out of Faith's hands.


	3. Lord Voldemort

**CH. 3: Lord Voldemort**

Life was a total bitch, Faith decided. Just when you start thinking that it couldn't possibly get any worse, it hits you in the face with something new. As if having two separate groups of people wanting her dead wasn't enough to deal with, now she had to deal with "The Letter" as she had dubbed it. Its contents had left her thinking and feeling things that she had shut out years ago. Things she didn't want to think about. Feelings she'd rather not feel. For one second, for one long second, she had thought maybe, maybe it was possible, maybe she did have a family but just as quickly as the idea had come, she discarded it. She was Faith, she didn't need family, she didn't need friends, they weren't worth it and in the end the only person she could count on was herself. And all she wanted to do now was forget. Forget about the letter, forget about her bad luck and forget about the people that wanted her dead and the only surefire, non-alcoholic, non-sex related way to do that was to kick some major vampire ass, hence the reason for walking around Sunnydale at this hour. Also, she had needed to be alone and away from the Scoobies.

Out of the corner of her eye, Faith noticed some movement in the alleyway across from her and decided to go check it out.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here," Faith said as she entered the alleyway. There was a large male vampire standing over a girl that looked about thirteen years old even though her clothes and make-up were meant to suggest that she was older than that.

"Get lost, bitch," the vampire growled.

"You know what? I don't feel like it." Faith said taking a step forward.

The vampire snarled and leaped towards her with his fist extended. Faith ducked his punch and gave him one of her own. She took out the stake she had managed to snag and made short work of him.

"That was almost too easy," Faith said with a ghost of a smile. "You okay, kid?" she asked turning towards the girl.

The girl nodded shakily.

"Well, go on home. You shouldn't be out at this hour." Faith said.

The girl nodded again before turning around and running out of the alleyway.

Faith resumed walking. She had decided to go to Sunnydale's main cemetery since there was bound to be some demon or vampire activity there.

The second she stepped inside the cemetery, the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "Bingo," she whispered softly.

She followed her senses and started weaving her way thru the cemetery towards its center. She knew there was a clearing there and she had a hunch that was where her bad guys were. And she was right.

Standing in a circle was a group of about fifteen men. They where all dressed in black robes and silver masks but something was wrong. While Faith was getting some mega evil vibes from them, it wasn't like the vibes she usually got from other demons and vampires.

"We've been expecting you," came a voice from behind her.

Faith whirled around, her stake in hand mentally cursing herself for not sensing that somebody was behind her. She came face to face with what she was sure was the world's ugliest creature. Unlike the others he wasn't wearing a mask so she got a good look at his face and wished she hadn't. He had extremely pale skin; so pale that it almost seemed to glow in a dark, sinister way. He didn't have a nose, or what she would normally consider a nose, instead he had two slits like a snake. His eyes were an eerie red color and they were gleaming like a cat. He was inhumanly thin with large hands and unnaturally long bony fingers.

"Okay, it's times like these that plastic surgery is an absolute must," Faith said taking an involuntary step backwards. "Who or should I say _what_ are you?"

The creature gave her a cold smile. "I am Lord Voldemort. You must be Faith."

"Ya'll heard about me, huh?" Faith said with a smile. While she had a cool, almost careless facade her mind was racing. Something was totally off, the thing in front of her wasn't human, you could tell just by looking at him but at the same time, he wasn't all demon either. Faith was sure about one thing though; he was filled with power and darkness.

"But of course," he answered. "Doesn't she look exactly like Bella?"

There was a murmured agreement among the hooded figures.

Faith had no idea who the hell Bella was, nor did she care. "Then you know I'm the slayer, right?" Faith said as she watched closely to see how he would react.

"Yes," he said.

"And how I'm supposed to slay big bad evil thingies." Faith continued.

"Supposed to is the key word." He said in an offhand way.

Faith stiffened but she continued like nothing happened. "Then don't feel bad when I kill you and your friends cos you guys definitely go in that category."

"I do not wish to fight you at this moment," he said.

"That's too bad, cos I'm just itching for a fight." And with that she lunged at him. At the same time he took out his wand, pointed it at Faith and suspended her in mid air.

"Holy shit," Faith gasped. Her surprise quickly changed to anger. "Put me down, you bastard!"

"You're not afraid of me," Voldemort said, coming so close to her that she could feel his rasping breath on her face. "I find that…amusing." He stroked the side of her face with one bony finger.

There were a couple of chuckles heard from the robed figures.

Faith refused to flinch and give him any satisfaction. "What the hell did you do to me?" she asked as she tried to get down but to no avail.

"A simple levitation spell. I'd be more than happy to teach you how it works." He said amiably.

"I don't give a fuck how it works as long as you let me go." Faith snarled as she struggled.

He acted as if he hadn't even heard her speak. "I could also teach you many other things, many powerful things."

"And I'm gonna teach you how painful death can be if you don't let me go." Faith said menacingly.

"As you wish," Voldemort said letting her drop.

Faith scrambled to her feet and swung her arm towards his jaw but she didn't connect. With a loud pop he disappeared.

"What the-" Faith said, looking around wildly.

Just as quickly, he reappeared behind her. "You are strong, no doubt. You are also a fighter, I like that. But you have much to learn, my child. I am willing to teach you."

There was something about the way he said 'my child' that chilled Faith's blood. "And who said I'm willing to learn?" She said, gritting her teeth as she tried to kick him again and again missed. By now she had noticed that whatever mojo Lord Thingy here was doing had something to do with the stick in his hand, his wand, she thought remembering her dreams for a fleeting second. She reasoned that if she was able to get it out of his hand, she might be able to get the upper hand in this fight. If only he would stop disappearing.

Voldemort chuckled softly. "You will be once you hear about the preposition I have to offer."

"Oh really? Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" Faith said.

"I know about your –how shall put this- problems with the Council and will gladly help you-"

"I don't need any help," Faith stated coolly.

"Is that so? In that case why are you staying with that other slayer and her little friends when you know they hate you?" It wasn't a question as much as it was a fact.

"None of your goddamn business," Faith said coldly. It was really starting to freak her out that this guy knew so much about her. What else does he know? She wondered momentarily.

Voldemort nodded, he knew he had touched a nerve. "Oh but it is. You see I'm one of the very few people on this earth who care about what happens to you."

"Now why would that be?" Faith said.

"Because you'll be of great use to me and because I knew Wilkins."

This stopped Faith dead in her tracks. "You- you knew him?' she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

"We have history together. What would he say if he saw you associating with his murderer? I daresay he'd be quite disappointed. He had high hopes for you." Voldemort shook his head.

"He talked to you about me?" Faith said in the same low tone.

"Yes," Voldemort said with a nod. "He did me a service a while ago and in return he asked me to take you under my wing if anything happened to him. The Dark Lord always repays those who stand by him so naturally I agreed to help you out and like I said-"

"What part of I don't need help don't you get?" Faith shouted.

There were a couple of surprised murmurs from the robbed figures but the one closest to Faith took a step towards her and spoke to her.

"Nobody yells at the Dark Lord and lives to talk about it," he said in low voice. "Nobody," he repeated ominously.

"Let her be, Macnair." Voldemort said sharply. "She's not yet trained in our ways."

"I'm sorry, master." The man named Macnair said before stepping back into the shadows.

Faith snorted. "Master?" she repeated scornfully. "Is that the job you want to offer me? To become on of your lackeys? To sit around and take orders from you and be treated as a slave? Doesn't' sound too appealing."

"No, as an- as an equal." It was not without difficulty that Voldemort said this. It raised some more hushed whispers from his followers but with one look he silenced them.

"Keep talking," Faith said.

"I'm sure you do not who I am. If you did you wouldn't be so impudent. I am the most powerful wizard in the world and soon the whole world will know that."

"Let me take a wild guess?" Faith said sarcastically. "You're another one of those psychos hell-bent on taking over the world and getting rid of all the humans?"

"Not quite," Voldemort said. "I only plan to get rid of muggles, mudbloods and all those who stand against me. The others can live if they join me."

"Not much of a choice." Faith commented. "Join you or die."

"It's the only one or if they are fools they can try and fight me." He said.

"I see." Faith said with an exaggerated nod. "Now correct me if I'm wrong. You just said something about being the most powerful person-

"Wizard," Voldemort interrupted. "You must have noticed by now that I am not a human being."

"Uh ha, it's kinda hard not to notice," Faith said wrinkling her nose at his appearance. "But while we're on this subject what's up with the whole wizard thing? And for the record what the heck is a muggle?"

"You don't know?" Voldemort asked surprised. "The Council never told you?"

"Told me what?" Faith asked.

"About the wizarding world." Voldemort said impatiently.

"Must've been absent that day." Faith said with a shrug.

"That's quite strange." Voldemort said with a shake of his head. "But never mind that gives me an advantage over them."

"That's nice," Faith said, getting the feeling that he was talking more to himself than her. "But let's get back to the whole wizarding shit for a second."

"Ah yes, simply put, wizards are people who have the power to do magic." He said.

"And are they always guys?" Faith asked her curiosity getting the better of her.

"No, many women can also do magic, they're the witches. Along with many magical creatures such as fairies and centaurs, we make up the wizarding world." Voldemort explained quite accurately.

"And why haven't people like me heard of people like you?" Faith asked.

With her question, Voldemort curled his upper lip in disgust. "Because many wizards are afraid of how muggles- people who don't have magic- would react if they found out about them."

"That's stupid," Faith said pointedly. "I mean you guys are the ones with all the mojo. Why the hell are you afraid of people who are less powerful than you?"

"That's exactly what I believe. We are stronger then them. Why are we the ones in hiding?" Voldemort said angrily.

"You tell me," Faith said with a shrug.

"Because the wizarding world is being run by a bunch of fools who think that we should stay hidden in order to keep world peace but that wouldn't last long." He said with malice. "Wait till they-"

"Okay, back the main topic." Faith said hurriedly. She was sure this was one person she'd rather not see have a temper tantrum. "You mentioned somewhere in your whole 'I'm gonna rule the world' speech that you're the most powerful wizard in the world. Of course that's probably a load of oversized male ego speaking, but it did get me thinking. If you're so powerful, then why haven't you already taken over?" she said practically.

"Rest assured that I am indeed the most powerful wizard but there are some people who don't believe that. Ignorant fools. They're placing all their trust in a mere boy."

Faith had a sudden vision of green light and she once again she heard that low chilling cackle from her dream. She shook her head to clear her mind. "And who exactly is he?" she asked curiously.

"I wish I were able to say that he is nobody important but that is not true. He is the one thing stopping me from succeeding."

"How?" Faith asked.

"There was a prophecy made a long time ago that states that one of us must defeat the other. So in order for me to actually have won I must kill him first."

"Okay, that has got to be the most ironic thing I've ever heard," Faith said. "You're the most powerful wizard in the world and in order to take over the world you have to kill some kid. Why haven't you done it yet? I mean, he's just a kid right?"

"True, but lucks always been on his side but I have a feeling that his luck is about to end." Voldemort answered.

"I see. So how do I fit in to your master plan?" Faith asked.

Voldemort smiled, the girl was smart. "You join me." He stated simply.

"Yeah, I pretty much figured out that part," the brunette answered. "But what I don't get is what you want me to do?"

"Whatever I tell you to." Voldemort said.

Faith quirked an eyebrow, "I thought we just went over this. I don't take orders from nobody." She said.

"What about Wilkins?" Voldemort pointed out.

Immediately Faith's temper flared. "That was different, okay? I was the one who went to him. I wanted to help him. You, however came to me and you are the one who wants my help."

"On the contrary you owe me." Voldemort corrected.

Faith couldn't believe her ears. "I owe you?" she asked. "For what?"

"For saving your life," Voldemort answered. "Twice."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Faith demanded. "I've never seen you before today."

"How do you think you got out the comma? According to those muggle doctors, your body was so damaged, they were sure that you'd never get out of that comma and if you somehow did miraculously wake up, you'd never go back to normal but look at you now. Barely a week later and you're as good as new."

"But how?" Faith managed to say.

"Ancient magic. Powerful ancient magic." Voldemort said. "Only a few people practice it today."

"And the second time?" Faith asked, sure she knew the answer.

"I thought that would be obvious." Voldemort said. "Right after you left the hospital you came across the pack of Pergola Demons. They would've killed you had I not killed them."

"Well, I didn't ask for your help so technically I don't owe you." Faith said, recovering from the shock of what he had just told her.

"This is all beside the point." Voldemort said impatiently.

"Hey, you brought it up." Faith retorted.

"The point is we can both help each other hence making us perfect allies." Voldemort said. He practically spit the last words out. As much as he hated acknowledging it, he knew that this girl was his equal even though she didn't know it.

"Really?" Faith said, folding her arms across in front of her chest. "We'll see about that _after_ you tell me what's in it for me."

"You won't have to depend on that other slayer or her friends. You'll also get you're revenge on her."

"I like the sound of that," Faith said with a smile.

"There's more." Voldemort said. "You can also get back at your former watcher and anyone else you want to get revenge on. I'll make it so that merely the mention of your name stirs fear in people's hearts and when I win, you'll have everything and anything you want and I will win."

He said with such conviction that Faith couldn't help but believe him. She nodded slowly. "One last question," she said. "Why me?"

"You're a slayer, which automatically makes one of the strongest people in the world and," Voldemort paused for emphasis. "You're a witch."

As he had expected, Faith was struck speechless. "No, no, you have got to be mistaken, I'm not a witch, I- I can't be a witch. All that mojo shit is not my thing." She said when she found her voice.

"I'm not mistaken. You are indeed a witch and you're the slayer. An extremely rare and powerful combination." Voldemort said. "In fact there hasn't been a combination like that for centuries."

Faith didn't give a damn how rare it was, it was bad enough she had been chosen to be a slayer, now she had to deal with being a witch. So she did what most people do when they're told to deal with something they don't want to deal with. She denied it. "I don't think so. I mean, I've never done any magic in my entire life and I'm sure that if I really was a witch I would've been able to do at least some magic by now."

"So you're telling me that you've never done anything unexpected or unexplainable when you're really angry or upset?" Voldemort said.

Faith started to say no but then realization dawned on her as she remembered quite a few moments when she'd done things that could only be explained as magic.

"Oh shit," Faith said as she grabbed onto the nearest tree for balance, she didn't trust her legs to support her. Yet another curveball thrown at her, and she had no idea how to react to this one. She couldn't handle all of this. "How did all of this happen?"

"How did all of what happen?" Voldemort asked.

"How did I become a witch? When did I become a witch? And how do I stop being one?" Faith asked wildly.

"First of all you don't become a witch or a wizard. You're born as one. It's hereditary." Voldemort said.

"So you're saying I'm a witch because my parents were witches and wizards?" Faith said as her mind struggled to comprehend this fact.

"Precisely." Voldemort answered.

"So if I had any brothers or sisters, they'd also be witches or wizards?" Faith asked her heart sinking.

"Yes," Voldemort said.

Faith let out a stream of curses, using every foul word she knew and then some. This was too much. She never should've come out here in the first place. It had only led to more trouble.

"So do you agree?"

Faith looked at him blankly.

"To join my cause." Voldemort said.

Faith shook her head dazedly. If only he had asked that question before he had told her she was a witch, she would've said yes first and thought about the consequences later but now she wasn't so sure. Two major things had happened to her in one day and she just knew they were both connected. "Tell you what, let me sleep on it and I'll tell you my answer then." She said at last.

He had expected her to give him an outright yes so he was a little surprised by her answer. He could try to use magic to force her but no matter what little training she had she was still very powerful and he wasn't sure what would happen and he'd rather not risk it. Besides, it would be better if she came willingly. He had waited nearly two decades for her; he could wait a couple of more days. "As you wish," he said slowly. He was positive that the old man didn't have a clue about the girl or her value so he didn't have anything to worry about.

Before Faith had a chance to speak, he and his followers had disappeared.

"Me and my damn luck," she muttered. She had come out her to stake some vamps and forget all about her troubles, instead she got another carload of troubles. Impulsively, Faith started walking towards The Bronze. Since slaying hadn't worked out, the only way she could forget now was to get really drunk. She could deal with her problems and the serious hangover she was bound to get tomorrow.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" Buffy called as she walked in through the door.

"Talk about stating the obvious," Spike muttered, lighting the cigarette that was dangling from his lips.

"Shut it, Spike," Buffy said wearily as came into the living room. She shrugged off her sweater and threw herself on the couch. Immediately she noticed something was wrong. The house was much too quiet. "Where's Faith?" Buffy asked suspiciously.

"Gone," Spike said absently.

"What?" Buffy screeched, getting up so fast the couch nearly toppled over.

Spike winced. "Can you tune it down a bit? I'm trying to watch the telly." He complained.

"What the hell do you mean she's gone?" Buffy said marching over to Spike.

"As in she's not here. Honestly slayer, are you that dense?" Spike said without looking up.

Buffy grabbed Spike by the front of his jacket and lifted him off the armchair. "Where is she?" she said between clenched teeth.

"I don't know." Spike said struggling to get out of her grip.

Buffy pulled back her arm and punched him in the jaw. "I'm not going to ask again, where the hell is she?"

"For the last time slayer, I. Don't. Know. Ask Red if you don't believe me." Spike said exasperatedly.

Buffy threw him across the floor. "Where is Willow?" Buffy asked.

"She's locked herself in the room." Spike said rubbing his jaw, sitting back down in front of the TV. He was about to take a drag from the cigarette but Buffy snatched it from him.

"Hey!" he complained.

"Didn't Giles tell you not to smoke inside the house?" she asked before grounding the tip of the cigarette on the ash try that was already overflowing with old cigarettes.

"Well it's not like I can go outside," Spike retorted.

Buffy sighed and stormed off to find Willow.

"Willow," she called knocking on the door. "Open up it's me, Buffy."

Buffy had to knock two more times before Willow opened the door.

"I just came in, Spike's outside alone, Faith's missing, and you're locked up in the room and from the looks of it you're trying to do a spell. Something is definitely wrong with this picture. You wanna tell what it is?" Buffy asked.

"Faith left." Willow said in a way of explanation.

"Uh ha, I kinda figured that out. What I don't get is why and where? Spike refused to tell me." Buffy answered.

Willow sighed. "I'm sure he doesn't know. She just left." She said waving her hand absently.

"Just like that? She didn't say anything?" Buffy questioned.

"Not really. I've been trying to do a location spell on her but no such luck." Willow said shaking her head and going back to the spell book.

"Okay. When exactly did she leave?" Buffy said sinking down on the floor next to her.

"A little over two hours ago. Long story short, she got a letter, she read it, said she need some air and left." Willow said.

"A letter?" Buffy repeated, dumbfounded. "Who'd be writing to Faith?"

"You won't believe it. I had to read it at least five times before I was sure it wasn't a hoax and then I had to read it another twenty times for it to actually sink in and I still don't believe it." Willow said. "Come to think of it, I don't think Faith believed it either. She was all in this trance like state when she left but I don't blame her. I'd go crazy if I found out about my past like that."

"Will, _I'll_ go crazy if you don't show me the letter now," Buffy said.

"It's right here," Willow said, holding out a piece of paper.

Buffy snatched the paper from her hand and started to read.

_Dear Faith,_

_You'll probably feel very strange reading this; I feel strange enough writing it! Just in case you're wondering, you and I have never met and I doubt you have ever heard of me. I know what I am about to tell you is very unsettling news and I am extremely sorry I've never told you before. To be completely honest, I never knew how to tell you and even today as I write you this letter I'm still not sure. I have thought about letting you live your life without knowing but that would be unfair to both you and Lily, and I would never forgive myself. I assume your parents who raised you told you were adopted. If they didn't, I'm sorry you have to find out this way but it is the truth. Lily, your biological mother and my best friend in the whole world, gave you up for adoption when you were three days old. Rest assured that it wasn't because she didn't love you. On the contrary, it was her love for you that made her give you up. She was barely sixteen at the time, still very much a child herself, and still in school. She knew she didn't have the means to give you the life you deserved so she made the painful decision to give you up to a family where you would have two loving parents. Lily always planned to come and meet you in person when both you and her were a little older but fate stepped in. When she was only nineteen years old, she and her husband were murdered. Yes, Lily had gotten married after graduating from Hogwarts (the school we went to) but no, it wasn't to your father. It was to his best friend. I'm not going to get into the details of this or their death because it would be too complicated to write down. I'd rather tell you face-to-face but that is your decision to make. Since I was the only one who knew about you, she had entrusted in me to tell you about your past if anything should happen to her. I'd love to be able to meet you and so would you're father, who by the way is my cousin, and I'm sure you're brother would too once we tell him about you. Yes Faith, you have read correctly, you do have a brother, a half brother to be exact from you're mother's side. He has just turned seventeen, which makes him about two years younger than you. I'm sure you'd really like him if you met him but like I said that is your decision to make. If you want to tear this letter up and continue on with your life like nothing happened, its okay and I'll respect your decision (I'm not sure about your father though!). But if you want to get to know your biological family better than let it be known that we welcome you with open arms. Just send us your reply and I will arrange a date for us to meet. _

_Yours truly,_

_Narcissa Black_

"That's not even the craziest part," Willow said when Buffy finished reading the letter.

"Do I really want to know?" Buffy asked.

Willow acted as if she hadn't even spoken. "It was delivered by an owl." She said.

Buffy blinked. "It was delivered by a what?" she asked.

"An owl," Willow repeated.

"Wiggy," Buffy said. "But we're in Sunnydayle, the land of wigginess so I'm assuming I shouldn't be shocked. But going back to the letter- it's - I mean - I honestly don't know what to say."

"I know what you mean," Willow agreed. "That's such a huge blow. I actually feel sorry for Faith. I'm not excusing all the crazy things she's done." She added quickly. "But when it comes to family, she hasn't really had the best of luck."

"Yeah. First her mom died, then her watcher, then the mayor, who despite all his evilness was like a father to Faith, now this." Buffy said. "It's like every time she gets close to somebody she loses them."

"What do you think she's going to do about this?" Willow inquired.

"Knowing Faith, she's going to assume her whole "I'm so big I don't need anybody" role and act like this is nothing." Buffy answered.

"Well, what do we do now?" Willow said.

"I'll go look for Faith and you do your thing and try and locate her family." Buffy said getting up.

"Are you sure about the last part?" Willow asked worriedly also getting up. "Faith might not like it."

"She might not like it now but she will appreciate it in the long run." Buffy said.

"If you say so." Willow said, still hesitant.

"Will, don't worry so much. It'll be okay." Buffy said, putting on her jacket. "Faith will be with her family and she'll be out of our hair so we can focus our energy on The Initiative. I'll get to spend more time with Riley and you can focus on your Wicca group."

"What makes you think that the Watcher's Council will stop hunting for her?" Willow asked quietly.

"I don't but it won't be our problem anymore." Buffy said starting to get out the door.

"You sure you'll find her? Maybe I should go with you. We'll cover more territory that way." Willow suggested.

"Will, Sunnydale is an extremely tiny city. There are no buses or trains running at this hour so she couldn't have left town. Knowing Faith, she's probably in one of the cemeteries taking her rage out on some helpless vampire. I'll find her." Buffy assured.

"Okay." Willow said. "I'll get to work."

"If you need anything call Giles." Buffy called before leaving.

As she left the house, Buffy speculated where she should go first. After a while, she decided on Sunnydale's main cemetery.

What am I going to tell her? Buffy wondered silently. She decided she would know when she found her. Buffy walked into the cemetery. Everything was strangely quiet and there was no sign of any demon or vampire activity. Faith must have taken care of them all, Buffy thought with a grim smile. She walked around the cemetery listening carefully for any sound. After walking around for a couple of minutes, she started to sense that somebody was following her. Buffy tensed up, getting ready to get into slayer mode if she had too. She took a deep breath and whirled around, her stake ready in her hand…..

Only to find her ex-cradle-robbing, creature-of-the-night boyfriend, Angel standing there. And he didn't look too happy.

**A/N: **Okay, ppl before you start freaking out; give me a chapter or two (or three) to explain. There are a couple of things I need to clear up now though. I know I said that Faith was two years older than Harry making her nineteen, making her older than Buffy. Now I know cannon says Buffy's older and Faith is the younger slayer but I had to change it around to make it fit the storyline and besides Faith always seemed older than Buffy.

Also, I said in the letter that the Lily died when she was 19. Cannon states that she died when she was twenty-one but in order for the story to fit I once again had to change cannon.


	4. Reunion

**A/N:** this beginning of this chapter's a bit on the heavy side of T, probably closer to M but since it's only a portion of a chapter, I don't think it's enough to make me change the rating of the whole fic. You guys have been warned. Also, thanks to everybody who reviewed the last chapter, especially **Wildly Obsessed** who is a lot responsible for me getting this chapter finally out, hope this makes your summer just a little bit more enjoyable.And if you're waiting for ch. 15 of FSTW, I'm working on it, I'll hopefully have it out soon (like in the next ten days). Now go read and review!

**Previously in the last chapter:**

_What am I going to tell her? Buffy wondered to herself. She decided she would know when she found her. Buffy walked into the cemetery. Everything was strangely quiet and there was no sign of any demon or vampire activity. Faith must have taken care of them all, Buffy thought with a grim smile. She walked around the cemetery listening carefully for any sound. After walking around for a couple of minutes, she started to sense that somebody was following her. Buffy tensed up, getting ready to get into slayer mode if she had too. She took a deep breath and whirled around, her stake ready in her hand…………………._

_Only to find Angel standing there._

_And he didn't look too happy._

**CH. 4: Reunion**

"Angel!" Buffy gasped delightedly. She launched herself at him without a second thought. She was so surprised and excited to see him she completely missed the look on his face. "Oh my god, I can't believe you're here! Why are you here? It doesn't matter. So much has been going on here, you wouldn't believe!" she babbled. "Oh, and I have sooo much to tell you! I'm so incredibly happy and excited and relieved that you're back." She frowned, leaning back so she could look him in the face "But that doesn't mean that you're forgiven for leaving in the first place. Far from it, buddy." She shook a finger at him. "In fact, I think that you're way overdue for-" She trailed off. "Why do you have that look on your face and –Angel, are you _sniffing_ me?"

"You have his scent on you," he said accusingly. "I thought maybe, just maybe they were lying but no. Why, Buffy?" He asked gripping her arms in a hold that would've been extremely painful had she not been the slayer.

For a second she thought he was talking about Riley but then she remembered that she hadn't been with Riley for over a week. "Okay Angel, you've totally lost me," she said, breaking out of his grip easily and taking a step back. "What are you talking about?"

Even in the dark, she could see his eyes flash angrily which indicated how extremely ticked off he was. It was strange considering the fact that he usually didn't get that angry often.

"Don't try and lie to me, Buffy. I know you too well," He said walking towards her menacingly as she took another involuntary step back. It was a little frightening and more than a little exciting, not that she'd ever admit that. It wasn't often that Angel lost his hold on his tightly leashed control in front of her. "God, you even smell like those horrible cigarettes he's always smoking." He added his lip curling up in disgust.

That brought her up short. Cigarettes? The only person she knew who smoked was- "Spike? What's _he_ got to with this?" Buffy said, now more confused than ever. Then it hit her. "You think me and Spike are together?" she screeched, jabbing a finger at him.

"I _know_ you're together so don't even try to deny it," he paused, some of his anger evaporating as an idea occurred to him. "Buffy, is this your way of getting back at me for leaving?"

There was nothing he could've said or done to make Buffy angrier. As a result, she did the first thing that came to mind. She slapped him, like any self respecting woman would when's she's been insulted. "So this about you, huh?" she said bitingly. "What am I saying?" she slapped her palm across her forehead. "Everything's about you. Well guess what, Angel? Not this time. Even if I am 'with' Spike, it's none of your goddamn business."

"Like hell it isn't," he growled roughly, pining her against the nearest tree.

"Oh really? How? You're the one who decided to walk away, remember?" Buffy said, trying to push him away. In the end, she resorted to elbowing him in the stomach. He lurched back and she pulled free from his grip.

"So you can have the chance to lead a normal life. Why can't you see that I did it for you?" he asked, frustrated.

"And why can't you see that should've been my choice to make!" Buffy shouted. "It's _my_ life. If I wanted to go home now and screw Spike six ways from Sunday- oomph" She never got to finish her sentence. Angel had grabbed her and crushed his mouth to hers and was kissing her with enough force to bruise her lips. At first she struggled against him but then she gave up. She'd be lying if she said that she didn't want this. It was rough and hot with just enough pain to excite the slayer part of her. She sank to the ground pulling him along with her. They immediately began to fight to be on top. Eventually Angel won and he pinned her hands above her head.

He pulled his mouth away from hers long enough to ask "Who do you belong to?"

"Wha?" Buffy said incoherently. Her mind had gone completely blank.

Angel leaned down to give her a punishing kiss, finishing with a not so painless nip to her bottom lip. "Who do you belong to?" he growled again.

"You," Buffy sighed. The slayer part of her didn't want to give in without a fight but at the moment she didn't really care.

Angel nodded, satisfied. "Don't you ever forget that." He said.

Their coupling was hard, fast, and furious and Buffy loved every single second of it. That is, until they were done and the implication of their actions settled in.

"Oh my god," she said, pushing him off her. "Angel no!"

"It's a little too late for that, babe," Angel said with a satisfied grin.

"Angel!" Buffy wailed. "The Curse!"

Angel immediately stopped grinning. "Shit," he swore. How could he have forgotten? After all they had gone through the first time around. "Buffy, I'm so sorry." He whispered.

"Not again, I can't go through that again," Buffy said on the verge of tears.

Angel didn't really hear her. He was waiting for that tingling sensation that would signal the start of his soul leaving. He didn't remember it taking so long last time but just in case…. "Buffy, you have to leave, right now."

"But Angel," Buffy began to protest.

"Now," Angel snarled.

Buffy turned around and started to quickly walk away. When she was about twenty feet away she turned back to look at Angel. "Angel?" she called a little fearfully.

Angel looked up. "I'm still me," he reassured her.

"Is it supposed to take this long?" she asked.

"It didn't last time," Angel said, also a bit puzzled.

"Do you think maybe," Buffy started hopefully.

Angel shook his head, although he had been wondering the same thing. "The curse is clear, one moment of happiness and I lose my soul." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he started to mull over them. "Unless," The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. The clause the gypsies had put on his soul was a happiness clause. While what he and Buffy had just done had certainly been satisfying, it wasn't like their first time which had been filled with love and yes, happiness. This had been more of a power struggle and a need to claim, and in his case mark, each other. "I'm not sure," he began. "But I don't think the clause applies to what we just did."

Buffy, who had hesitantly began to move towards him, stopped in her place. "Why?" she asked, confused. "It applied last time, why wouldn't it apply now?"

Angel tried hard not to grin at her confused expression and innocent question as he tried to think of a way of to answer her without offending her.

"Well, since we were both caught up in the heat of the moment there really wasn't time for us-me to feel the happiness." He said carefully.

Buffy didn't looked convinced. She was convinced that he wasn't Angelus but she didn't believe that the reason for it was that simple.

Angel sighed. It sounded good to him and for now it was enough. "If it'll make you feel better we can ask Giles about it." He offered.

Buffy blanched. "No!" she said vehemently. "You are not going to mention it this – this – whatever just happened here to Giles."

"Whatever just happened here, Buff?" Angel repeated. That certainly stung. "We made love, that's what happened."

Buffy laughed harshly. "Okay, I know that I don't have as much experience as you do but I I'm damn sure that there's no way a tumble in the grass can be called making love." She said.

"It does when two people love each other." Angel said angrily.

"Uh uh, no way. There's no way you're going to get me to touch that subject." Buffy said shaking her head.

"Why not?" Angel asked.

"Because it's the same old song and dance and for once I'm not going to get caught up in it. I already have way too much on my plate. Speaking of which, I really need to head back to Giles. So why don't I go on my way and you go on yours?"

Angel grinned and shook his head. "No can do Buffy. See I have to head over to Giles too and I have feeling that I'm about add a whole lot more to your plate."

_It wasn't working._ Faith scowled at the now warm beer bottle in her hand. She had been in here for over an hour and not only was she not drunk; the whole idea had sort of lost its appeal. So now she was sitting here in the middle of night being plagued by thoughts that she wanted nothing to do with. At that moment, the Bronze's door opened, and some army boys walked in. Faith checked them out in the mirror above the bar. The one in the middle wasn't so bad, she mused, if you went for the all American boy type, which she didn't. He caught her gaze and grinned at her. _But I can make an exception for tonight, _She said, answering with her own inviting grin. Anything to distract her from her thoughts.

After some jeers from his buddies, the all American boy sauntered up to the bar and took the seat next to her.

"Took you long enough," Faith said taking a long pull from her beer bottle.

'Yeah?" he said, turning to look at her.

She turned to face him too. "Yeah, it's been what? five minutes since you walked in and you're just coming over now?" Faith said with a flirtatious smile. When she was in the mood, she could flirt with the best of them.

He laughed and introduced himself. "Riley."

She nodded, even though she was pretty sure she wouldn't remember his name tomorrow morning. "Faith."

"Pretty name for a pretty girl." He commented.

Faith resisted the urge to roll her eyes and tell him that he seriously needed some new lines. "Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." She said, slowly checking him out.

"Oh," he said raising an eyebrow. He leaned closer until they were almost nose to nose. "Well, why don't come over to my place and I'll show how good or bad I can be?"

Faith didn't even pretend to consider the offer. She drained her bottle, slapped some money on the table (money that she had filched from Willow), and jumped off the stool. "Let's go," she said giving him a predatory look.

He looked a little surprised that she gave in so quickly. The look he gave his friends as they walked out the door showed that he thought she was easy but Faith really didn't care, it wasn't like she was going to see him again after this. And besides, it wasn't like her opinion of him was very high either. But he was male, he was young and he looked like he knew how to make a girl forget her problems and for now that was enough. It was enough.

"Let me get this straight, you're saying that there's this whole other world- a world run by and filled with people with magical abilities - that we don't know about?" Willow asked Angel for what had to be the sixtieth time.

If vampires were able to get headaches, he'd have a migraine by now, Angel thought. Willow was a sweet girl but she could be so annoying at times. That said, she was actually the least of his problems. Not only was he under the same roof with two of the people on his most hated list (Harris and Spike), but Buffy was pissed at him for being the bearer of bad news. It wasn't like it was his fault, but since he was the one who told her about it she was blaming him. At least, he was getting a break now that she had turned her fury onto Giles.

"So you're saying that you never really saw a reason to inform me of the wizarding world, even though as a slayer I have a right to know?" Buffy inquired doing her best to look merely confused instead of enraged.

Giles sighed. "It's a bit more complicated than that, Buffy." He said.

"Oh?" she said raising an eyebrow. "In that case, why don't you explain it to me?"

"The Ministries of Magic- they're the ones that run the wizarding world- and the Council have never really been on good terms. Simply put, they don't mix well. The wizarding world feels as if they don't really need the slayer considering they have magic and all. In return, their problems are too much for any one slayer to handle. So by an unspoken agreement, they agreed to stay out of each others businesses a long time ago. Eventually, the council decided there was no reason for the watchers to inform their slayers of the wizarding world and vice versa. In the end, they've both become something of a myth to each other. To be completely honest, it never crossed my mind to tell you. I never thought a situation like this would ever arise." He finished with a shrug.

"Great," Buffy said, rubbing her temple. "I'm supposed to go save the day for a bunch of people who think I'm nothing more than a myth."

"You just have to play the aggravated hero, don't you slayer?" Spike said with a snort of disgust. "All they asked you to do was sit in on one bloody meeting."

"And we all know what that's going to lead to." Buffy said glaring at him. "And where's this Order of the Fox located, anyway?"

"Order of the Phoenix," Angel supplied.

This time he was the one she glared at.

"From what I've heard, only those in the Order know the location," Giles said, looking at Angel for confirmation.  
Angel nodded.

"Well, do we know somebody who's in the Order?" Buffy asked.

Angel cleared his throat. "Actually, I'm in the Order." He admitted.

"Someone give this boy an award. First we take over Wolfram and Hart, now we're joining Orders. You're becoming a regular old upstanding citizen, aren't you?" Spike chortled.

"Why the hell hasn't anybody staked him yet?" Angel demanded.

"Believe me, I'm thinking about it." Buffy mumbled, massaging her temples. "Okay, Xander can you please, please, please, take Spike to your place?" She asked.

"Normally this is the part where I'd say do I have to, but I can tell this is serious-"

"Good for you," Angel said, interrupting Xander. "Now take Billy Idol here and get out."

"For the last time, it was my look first, he just happened to make it famous." Spike whined as he got up and made his way to the door.

"Keep telling yourself that," Angel said, getting up to open the door. "And you, make sure he doesn't eat anybody." This was directed to Xander.

"Oh didn't we tell you?" Buffy said, suddenly grinning impishly. "Spike's been neutered, he can't hurt anybody."

"You don't say," Angel remarked, mesmerized by her smile. She really ought to smile more often, he thought to himself. But then again there wasn't much to smile about in her life. "How did that happen?"

Buffy swallowed when she noticed the look Angel was giving her. Immediately all thoughts flew from her head.

"Okay, umm sorry to interrupt the moment and all that," Willow said a bit nervously. "But we have some serious issues to work out."

And just like that the spell was broken, and they were all brought back to reality. At least Buffy was. She had to keep reminding herself that what was over was over. The only reason Angel was here was because of business and what had happened in the woods didn't mean anything. _Yeah right_, said a small part of her,_ admit it you still love him_. Buffy shook her head, now was not the time for such thoughts. "I'm sorry did you say something?" she asked, directing the question to Angel.

"Yeah, how did Spike get neutered? Did it have something to do with that military base you guys were telling me about?" Angel said.

Willow nodded. "The Initiative. He was one of their experiments. We're not exactly sure what it's for yet but it's something big." She added anticipating his question.

"Speaking of which, that's what I'm supposed to be working on right now. So let's get this over with so I can get back to that." Buffy said. It was time for no-nonsense Buffy. She was all business now.

"Angel, I know we've been over this but I'm still not sure what is required of Buffy-" Giles started.

"Buffy's not sure what's required of her either." she quipped.

Giles gave her a long suffering look. "As I was saying, do you mind going over well, just about everything?"

"And this time could we start from the beginning?" Willow asked, her pen poised to take notes.

Angel sighed. "Why not?" he said, sitting down next to Buffy on the couch and trying to look casual about it at the same time. From the way she stiffened and the disapproving look Giles gave him, it didn't go unnoticed.

"This all pretty much started a little over thirty years ago. Before that, the wizarding world was and had been at peace for the past couple of centuries." Angel began.

"So what was so special about that the 70's, besides the bell bottoms and the high tops?" Buffy interrupted.

Angel smirked. Typical Buffy, couldn't stay still or quiet for more than a minute. "I'm getting to that." He answered. "The wizarding world used to be a pretty small community. Wizards and witches were scattered all over the world but even so they weren't that much in number. But as people started noticing, the numbers of wizards and witches were growing. The problem was they weren't all purebloods."

"pure-what?" Willow asked.

"Purebloods, meaning that both their parents weren't magical. Although that was to be expected considering the small number of witches and wizards." Angel said.

"So?" Buffy promoted, not seeing the problem.

"I can answer that one," Giles said. "You see Buffy, to some people that wasn't a problem at all. But to others, who measured self-worth by how far back you could trace your lineage, it was a big problem. They didn't consider these other wizards and witches, half-bloods, they called them, to be equal to them."

"Prejudice." Willow said.

"Exactly." Angel said.

"Figures," Buffy remarked. "No matter where you go, you can't escape it."

"Well, they didn't have it the worse. All over the world, the number of witches and wizards that were born to non-magical parents was also increasing. And you can just imagine how some of those stuck up snobs reacted to that." Angel said.

"Not good, huh?" Buffy said.

"Not at all. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't like that this was the first time this was happening but for some reason it was getting the most attention during this time. The worst came when an English wizard started rallying people to openly stand against everyone that wasn't pureblood and to cleanse the wizarding world by getting rid of them."

"English?" Buffy frowned. "You mean Giles' people? Wait when you say get rid of, you mean kill, right?"

When Angel gravely nodded, Willow exclaimed, "But that's so wrong. Why would anyone want to do that?"

"I don't know why but I know they did. Voldemort, that was the name the wizard chose for himself, gathered a lot of followers. Some because they agreed with him, a lot because they feared him. And he was somebody to be feared; he had more power than just about all the wizards. Granted, most of it came from the Dark Arts, but it was power nonetheless."

"And nobody tried to stop him?" Willow inquired.

"Oh they did. Alone, they didn't really stand a chance and they were aware of that. That's how the Order came about. Although Voldemort was very powerful, there was one wizard that was his equal, some say even more powerful. And luckily, he was on Voldemort's opposing side. He and some others came up with the idea of the Order of the Phoenix."

"Order of the Phoenix?" Giles said. "Interesting name. Is there a reason behind it?"

"You'd have to ask Albus Dumbledore that. He's the wizard that started the order and he's the one who came up with the name." Angel said.

Giles gaze sharpened. "Dumbledore?" he repeated. "As in the headmaster of Hogwarts?"

Angel nodded, surprised. "You've heard of him?" he asked unnecessarily.

"I've read about him, yes."

Until that moment Buffy and Willow had been watching the exchange quietly.

"Uh, 'scuse my ignorance, but what's Hogwarts?" Buffy asked.

"A wizarding school; I'll tell you more about it later." Angel said. "But let's get back to the Order for now. At the time, their job was mainly to fight the Death Eaters- that's what Voldemort's followers were called- but soon they were given a bigger job, an extremely important job. There was a prophecy-"

"There's always a damn prophecy," Buffy muttered darkly.

"That announced the coming of a boy who would fight Voldemort, who would defeat him or be defeated and it was only with either of their deaths that the other would live." Angel continued.

"Harry Potter," Giles said.

"Yes, Harry Potter." Angel said. "And as Giles demonstrated, the rest of that story is public knowledge. One of the members of the Order betrayed them-"

"Sirius Black?" Giles asked.

"That's the part of the story that's not public knowledge." Angel said, smiling grimly. "It wasn't Sirius, although he did pay the price for it. It was actually Pettigrew, a fact that was just proven a couple of months ago with his capture."

The girls who weren't as familiar with wizarding history as Giles were getting a bit impatient.

"So after this Pettigrew guy betrayed the Order what happened?" Willow asked.

"Well, the Order's job was to protect Harry from Voldemort but because of Pettigrew's betrayal Voldemort found him anyway."

"They failed," Buffy said softly.

Angel shook his head. "No they didn't, not really. Voldemort managed to kill Harry's parents but when he tried to kill Harry, he ended up seriously hurting himself. Because of the Dark Arts, he couldn't die but he wasn't alive either. After that he wasn't seen or heard from for nearly a decade. And it was only about three years ago he started to rise again. This is where you and I come in. The war- and it is a war- is getting worse, and it's going to keep getting worse before it gets better. Both sides are looking for allies, and as of about three months ago I joined the side against Voldemort. When the Order heard that I had ties to the slayer- that would be you- they asked me to talk to you."

"About joining?" Buffy asked, although she was sure she already knew the answer.

Angel nodded. "Voldemort's managed to get a lot of vampires on his side and they would really appreciate your help on that matter." He said.

"Angel, I don't know what to say." Buffy said. "I want to, I really do but I have so much to do right here in Sunnydale. I don't think I can make that kind of commitment right now. I'm willing to help, to attend meetings, you know keep my eyes and ears open, that sort of thing but I'm going to have to pass on the membership."

Angel nodded. "Alright, I'll owl the Order and tell them. They're probably still going to be interested in meeting you."

"That's fine," Buffy assured.

Willow stared at Angel. "What did you say?" she asked. At Angel's confused look, she clarified. "About the owl."

"Ah," Angel said. "It's the wizarding world's method of communication. They send letters with owls, hence the term owl." He explained.

"Oh my god," Willow whispered. "Faith, the owl, how-"

Giles and Angel looked at her, not understanding her babble, but one look at Buffy's awed face showed that she at least understood.

"Oh my god," Buffy exclaimed. "That is too crazy."

"I know," Willow agreed. "Faith is going to freak when she finds out."

"Okay, time out. What's going on and what's this about Faith?" Angel asked. "Matter of fact, where is Faith? I was under the impression she was staying here so why is she not here?"

"Good God in heaven. I'd completely forgotten about Faith." Giles said. Then his eyes narrowed. "Why is she not here?"

Buffy winced. "She stormed out a couple of hours ago. I was looking for her when Angel found me and I - forgot." She finished lamely.

_Forgot, huh?_ Angel tried to keep the smirk that was lurking around the corners of his mouth off his face. Considering the fact that Buffy was giving him a look so cold it could freeze over hell, he hadn't tried hard enough. Angel gave her an easy smile in return; he was seriously beginning to enjoy her antagonism. The harder she tried to freeze him out, the more he became committed to winning her back.

"_Why_ did she storm out of here?" Giles asked.

"She got a letter," Buffy said in a way of explanation.

"It was delivered by an owl," Willow rushed to add.

At any other time, the looks on Angel and Giles faces would've been comical.

"Do you know what it said?" Angel asked when he was able to speak.

"It was from a friend of her mother's-" Buffy began.

"Her biological mother," Willow jumped in.

"The one who died?" Giles asked, not getting it get.

"No," Faith said, letting the door slam behind her. "You see I never got around to telling you. I'm adopted."

They all turned to look at her.

Faith took advantage of the silence. "I'm ashamed of you all, I never thought you'd stoop so low as to read other people's mail." She chided, in mock disapproval trying to control the anger she felt at seeing them carelessly discuss her life. Lately, it seemed she had absolutely no control of any part of her life and it was quickly driving her to madness.

"We were trying to figure out where you went?" Willow said a bit nervously.

"Speaking of which," Buffy said, standing up. "Where did you go? I looked for you-"

"Apparently not that hard," Faith interrupted. "Sunnydale's on the small side B, not many places to go, unfortunately."

"What did the letter say, Faith?" Giles asked gently.

"None of your damn business," Faith snapped.

"Look Faith, if it's from the wizarding world, it's really important that I know what it says." Angel said urgently.

"It's from the wizarding world and it's personal and that's all I'm saying," Faith said angrily.

"You know about the wizarding world," Buffy said, shocked.

Faith thought fast. "Don't all slayers?" she said, faking puzzlement.

Buffy stared accusingly at Giles. "I thought you said-"

Giles interrupted her, which was very uncharacteristic of him. "There are exceptions to every rule." He said evenly.

Angel looked at Buffy. "What did it say?" he asked softly.

Buffy looked at Faith. "It's up to Faith to decide if she wants to tell you." Buffy said finally.

Angel looked incredulous. "Buffy," he said, his meaning clear in that one word.

"You want to know?" Faith said. "Fine. Long story short, it's from my biological family or at least what's left of them. The gist of it is they've finally decided they want to meet me. Hallelujah and all that." She finished bitterly.

"Isn't that good?" Giles asked.

Faith laughed dryly. "No, yes, I don't know. And you know what I don't care." She said.

Giles was quiet. "The wizarding world gets in touch with the two slayers on the same day. Coincidence?" he asked.

"What do you mean? They got in touch with you?" Faith asked Buffy. "Who? Why?"

"Can I tell her?" Buffy asked Angel.

"Go ahead," Angel said, waving his hand. "She's the slayer too."

"Oh no, no no no," Faith said, shaking her head. "B's the slayer, I'm the one who went rouge, remember? She saves people and I do my best to ruin things for her, ring a bell?"

"Unfortunately," Angel replied.

"Good, keep it in mind." Faith said. "And do not get me involved in any of this save the world bullshit."

"If you insist." Angel said.

"I do," Faith said eyeing him suspiciously.

"Fine," Angel said with a shrug.

"Fine," Faith echoed. "Now where's Spike?"

"Him and Harris are having a sleepover." Angel said with a grin.

"Of all days, he disappears on me when I need him," Faith muttered.

Angel stared at her intently. "You and Spike?" he said slowly.

"Friends, nothing more, nothing less." Faith answered.

"Yeah, I should seen it when I talked to you two earlier," he said. "In a weird demented way it makes sense."

"I sure it does to you," Faith retorted. "Seeing as you're the former king of the weird and demented."

"You talked to her this morning?" Buffy asked Angel.

"Her and Spike," Angel said.

"Uh ha," Buffy said, the wheels in her head turning. "Faith, can I talk to you for a second?" She said dragging her into the closest room which happened to be the sparing room Giles kept for slayer training.

Buffy closed the door behind her. "What the hell did you tell Angel when you talked to him?" she asked through clenched.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, B." Faith said looking everywhere except at Buffy.

"That's funny. See when Angel first arrived he had this idea that Spike and I were sleeping together."

"Really?" Faith asked, trying to hide her amusement.

"Yeah and I know it sounds crazy but now that I know you guys talked to him today, I think you had something to do with it." Buffy said.

Faith burst out laughing. "Chill B, it was just a joke," she said. She was still laughing so she had no way of blocking the fist Buffy threw at her. It connected solidly with her shoulder and she staggered backward.

Faith's eyes narrowed. "Wanna fight, huh B?" she said. "That's cool. We're long overdue anyway." And with that she lunged at Buffy catching her by surprise and managing to get sidekick in.

Buffy retaliated with her own kick which Faith neatly ducked. However, she didn't quite manage to duck the elbow Buffy jabbed into her stomach.

"Wanna play dirty, huh?" Faith panted. "Fine with me." She spun around and landed a swinging backhand punch on Buffy's face.

They went on like that for what seemed like hours. Faith was getting tired and from the way Buffy was slouching it seemed like she was too. It was time to go in for the kill, Faith decided. Faking left, she dodged right and aimed a sharp kick to Buffy's side. Unexpectedly, Buffy crouched low and kicked Faith's feet out from under her. Faith landed on the floor with an oomph, as the air was sucked out of her lungs.

"Got to work on your moves, Faith," Buffy said with a broad grin and she turned around to leave.

Still on the ground, Faith gave a solid kick to the back of Buffy's knees, insuring that she went down. "So do you, B." she said with a grin of her own.

They both took a minute to catch their breaths. "Besides, I've been out of commission for a while. Haven't had time to practice."

"Oh please." Buffy said. "Everybody knows you spend most of your time in this room working out."

"Well, except for that," Faith gave in.

There was another moment of silence. "Talk to your family, Faith. Give them a chance." Buffy said softly.

"Don't go there, B," Faith said just as softly. "Don't go there."

"Why not, Faith?" Buffy asked. "Considering everything that's been going on here, this sounds like the best deal you've gotten in ages, so for once forget your pride and just take it."

"And then what?" Faith asked.

"I don't know but I know the only way to answer that question is to meet them."

Faith was silent. Deep down inside, she knew that she had already made her decision the minute she finished reading the letter. But voicing it would make it real, it would make the whole damn thing real and that would just make her vulnerable.

"Besides I wouldn't know how to get in touch with them," she heard herself say.

There was a knock on the door. "Are you guys done in there?" Willow called.

Buffy looked at Faith. "What do you think, are we done?" she asked with a smile.

Faith grinned back. "I don't know, B. You wanna go another round?" she asked. "Cos you know me, I'm down for anything."

"Come on in, Will," Buffy called.

Willow opened the door, expecting the worse. What she didn't expect to find was Buffy and Faith sprawled on the floor grinning at each other. It was almost as if they were back in the days Faith first arrived in Sunnydale and Buffy and Faith had hit it off. They were sharing a moment only they understood because they were the slayers. And no matter what happened, they would always have that bond.

"This just came for you, Faith." Willow said, holding out the owl that had brought Faith's letter earlier. "There's an empty paper tied to it. I think you're supposed to send your reply with it."

"Well that answers your question," Buffy said sitting up.

Faith also sat up, albeit a little uneasily. "Yeah it does," she said shakily. "Do you have a pen?"

Willow wordlessly handed her one and watched as Faith scribbled something on the paper.

"Done," Faith said. When she said that, the owl arched it's wings and flew out the open window, startling Willow.

"Okay, I am never going to get used to that thing," Willow said.

Faith nodded absently but her mind was too busy pondering what she had just done and the ramifications of her actions. One thing was for sure; her life had just taken a whole new turn.

- Well, what do you think? Please, please, please take the time to review and tell me! Be on the lookout for chapter 5, _House of Black _where we finally get to meet the HP crew, well at least some of them.

Lotsa love,

TDL


	5. House of Black

**New Summary: **BTVS/HP. Once again everything in Faith's life has been shot to hell. She's wanted by both the FBI and Watcher's Council & for the first time in her life she doesn't have a backup plan. By a twist of fate, she's offered a solution to her problems by the family she never knew she had.

**A/N: **Well, here's chapter five at last. Hope you enjoy it. And thanks to everybody who reviewed. It means so much to me that you guys take the time to tell me what you think. **IMPORTANT:** One more thing, I'm not sure if I mentioned this in previous chapters or not, but as far as the HP verse is concerned, I'm only taking complete cannon up to GoF. I'll acknowledge some of the stuff that happened in OotP, especially the fight in the end of the book and the fact that all the death eaters who were there were rounded up ('cept for Bella). But I'm ignoring the fact that Sirius died, and most of the really pratty stuff Draco does in the book. I honestly really don't want to think up ways to explain why the heck he is such an immature idiot in that book. This doesn't mean I'm going to turn him into a muggle and peace loving angel, which btw, I've seen some people do and it's scary. I think his character is much more complex than that and I'll try to work within the lines J.K created for him, at least some of them. As for HPB, I don't think I'm going to use any of the things that happened in it.

**Previously in the last chapter:**

"_Talk to your family, Faith. Give them a chance." Buffy said softly._

"_Don't go there, B," Faith said just as softly. "Don't go there."_

"_Why not, Faith?" Buffy asked. "Considering everything that's been going on here, this sounds like the best deal you've gotten in ages, so for once forget your pride and just take it."_

"_And then what?" Faith asked._

"_I don't know but I know the only way to answer that question is to meet them."_

_Faith was silent. Deep down inside, she knew that she had already made her decision the minute she finished reading the letter._

**CH. 5: House of Black**

The House of Black had been standing for centuries. It had seen some of the worst wars, leaders, even natural disasters yet it still stood. The years went by and much changed but the House of Black and all it stood for remained the same. At least that had been the way it was before ownership fell into the hands of one Sirius Black. In the past the House of Black had been used as the center of operations for many an operation, most of them heinous, but as the previous Blacks used to say that was just a matter of opinion. However, now for the first time the House of Black was being used to promote good. It was being used to help others whether they were pureblood or not. As a result of one of those acts of goodness, the House of Black had gained two new occupants that because of circumstances nobody would've expected in a million years.

"Draco!"

Narcissa Black (she'd gone back to her maiden name after her divorce had been finalized), waited a beat before knocking on the attic door again. "Draco, what are you doing in there?" she asked impatiently. "For heaven's sake, we're going to be late and what kind of impression is that going to make on the poor child?"

Narcissa stepped away from the door just moments before it was wrenched open. "Poor child?" Draco repeated coming out of the room. He haphazardly tied back his too long silver blond hair with a piece of twine. "Mum, she's practically a grown woman."

"It's just an expression, Draco." Narcissa said, absently waving his comment aside as she tugged at the front of her dress. She was not used to muggle clothing. "Do I look muggle enough in this dress?"

"Yes, mother." Draco said, not bothering to look up from where he was tying his shoes.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you had eyes in the back of your head, Draco." She said sarcastically which just went to show how nervous she really was, since she hardly ever did sarcasm. As her husband, now ex-husband, (a fact she was still getting used to) loved to tell her, sarcasm wasn't very becoming on her.

Draco sighed as he straightened up. "You look beautiful, Mum. You always do to me," He said tenderly cupping her cheek.

"Oh honey," Narcissa said as she took the moment to lean against him. It was moments like this that melted her heart and reassured her that she hadn't done too badly by her son. She hadn't done her best but at least she hadn't failed him either.

"You're putting too much of your energy into this, mum." Draco said seriously. "It's not really your problem."

Narcissa looked up at her son. "Draco, she's my late best friend's daughter, she's my goddaughter and she's related to me by blood from her dad's side. Furthermore, until a couple of months ago, I was the only living person who knew she existed." She explained. "So it's very much my problem. And besides Sirius has done so much for us lately, I want to- no, I need to do this one thing for him."

As if on cue, Sirius called, "Breakfast's ready!"

Draco threw his mother an accusing look. "I thought you said he wasn't going up at this hour."

Narcissa gave her son a thoroughly exasperated look in return. "You can't lock yourself in your room- a room which may I remind you, _he_ provided- every time he's around. Which may I also remind you is a lot, considering the fact that this is _his_ house."

"Mum, look I get the fact that he did a lot for you, I really do-" Draco began.

"No, Draco you really don't," Narcissa broke in. "When Lucius got sent to Azkaban last year and the world found out that he was a Death Eater, everybody wanted nothing more than to see me either go with him or die. Never mind the fact that I wasn't a Death Eater myself, in their eyes I was just as guilty of every horrendous act just because I was married to one. And in a way they're right."

"No, they're not," Draco disagreed.

"They are but I made my choice, and I have to live with the consequences and I'm more than willing to do that. Anyway, that's not the point. As part of their investigation, the Ministry seized everything your father owned and froze his bank accounts. I was left homeless, penniless, with little more than the clothes on my back."

"There's no reason to rehash the past, I know all this." Draco said. Even a year later, the wound was still fresh. He dealt with it in his own way and rarely liked to bring it up. Not because he was in denial, but because he could see how much it all still hurt his mother.

"There's a difference between knowing and understanding," Narcissa replied. "I know you know this but I don't think you understand. Despite everything that happened in the past, Sirius took me in, he gave me a home, he stood by my side when nobody else was willing too. You cant' deny that he's done a lot for you too. Where do you think I got the money to keep you in school?"

Draco shook his head. "Anything's he's done for me is because of you. If you weren't around, he'd most likely to throw me to the dogs. Can't say I blame him cos there's really not a lot of love on my side either. Either way, it's just a couple of more months before my eighteenth birthday. I'm finally going to be able to access the trust fund Granddad left me and the first thing I'm going to do is pay him back in full. For everything, and he'll never see me again. But for now, the best solution is just to stay out of each other's way."

Narcissa sighed inwardly, he still didn't get it. Some things were priceless and could never be repaid. She debated whether or not she should keep trying to explain it but in the end she decided against it.

"Unfortunately for you, that's just not possible at the moment." Narcissa said firmly.

"Mum," Draco groaned.

"Don't you mum me." Narcissa said in a no nonsense voice. "You are going to go downstairs and you are going to be cordial if it kills you. Or else."

"Or else what?" Draco challenged.

"Or else you won't see your broomstick for a month." Narcissa threatened before she turned around and made her way downstairs. It was a bit harsh considering flying was one of the few things that seemed to give her son peace of mind these days but it was the only way she knew she'd be able to get him downstairs.

"Good morning," Narcissa said as she entered the kitchen. Even though she felt like a nervous wreck, she was determined to be cheerful.

"Well, it's definitely morning. Whether it's going to be a good one that's still up in the air." Sirius replied. He was sitting at the table with a cup in his hand. "Tea?"

Narcissa stared at him. "You made tea?" she asked just to be sure.

"So?" Sirius said defensively.

"Sirius you hate making tea." Narcissa pointed out. "Understandable, since you can never quite get it right."

"Well, I was up and there was no tea since you were still sleeping, I figured I'd give it a try." Sirius explained.

"That wouldn't have been a problem if you had a house elf," Draco said from his place in the doorway.

Sirius's shoulders stiffened slightly before he forced himself to be lax. "Tried that but as I'm sure you know, it didn't work out too well." He said evenly looking the boy straight in the eye.

Draco returned the gaze steadily. Before things could get out of hand, Narcissa intervened. "So why are you up so early, Sirius?" she asked.

Sirius reluctantly tore his gaze away from Draco's to Narcissa. "Couldn't sleep, for obvious reasons. I know I've had a couple of months to adjust to the fact that I have daughter and I thought I was doing fine but now that we've actually found her, I realized I have to face the fact that I'm actually going to meet her. Soon."

"With any luck soon will be in a couple of hours," Draco said, purposely aggravating Sirius.

Narcissa shot him a look. "It's okay to be nervous. If it makes you feel any better, I'm a nervous wreck too," she offered.

"No, that does not make me feel better. Now if you had said that you were confident that everything was going to go well, that might've made me feel better." Sirius said, gripping his cup. "I don't know, Cissa. What if we screw this up? What if we're just making a huge mistake? What if she's just agreeing to meet with you out of courtesy and doesn't want to have anything to do with us, with me?"

"You know, you still have the option of backing out now." Draco said, leaning against the counter. "Forget this all ever happened. She'll go on with her life and you'll go on with yours- not that you really have one- but you get the gist."

"You're not helping, Draco," Narcissa told him. She tilted her head towards the doorway, indicating he should leave the room, which he thankfully did.

Narcissa turned her full attention to Sirius as she thought about what to say. For once it was her turn to say the right things. It was her turn to offer a supporting hand. "Look Sirius, we've spent the past couple of months doing nothing but search for her, for Faith. And we always knew that once we found her the logical step was going to be to meet her. Now let's just take her out of the equation for a second and focus on you. Do you want to meet her?"

"More than anything," Sirius said without hesitation. "She's my kid, Cissa. But there are so many other factors and people to consider. Like Harry, especially Harry. She's his sister."

"His half sister," Narcissa corrected.

"Exactly. How am I ever going to explain it to him?" Sirius said, frustrated.

"By telling him the truth. You went out with Lily before James ever did-"

"And during that period, I shagged her and she got pregnant?" Sirius finished.

Narcissa winced. "When you put it that way, it doesn't sound so good." She admitted.

"He'll take hard because he holds James and Lily, especially Lily, on such a high pedestal. He'll hate me for it too."

"Just for a while, just until he adjusts." Narcissa comforted.

"But that's the thing." Sirius told her. "All he ever seems to do is adjust to things that people throw at him, things that are beyond his control. I know how much he hates it and I don't want to do that to him."

"It's beyond your control too." She replied. "Nobody's to blame here. Not you, not Lily, certainly not the child you made together."

Sirius nodded slowly. "You're right." He said.

"Well, I'm right on this," she said. "Does this mean that I can go now?"

"Maybe I should go with you and meet her now." Sirius said suddenly.

"Are you really ready to do that?" Narcissa countered.

Sirius thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "No, not really," he said with a grin.

"In that case let's just stick with the original plan. Draco and I will meet her. We'll offer her the opportunity to come back with us. If that doesn't work out, we'll work out something else. Okay?" she said.

"Alright but get out of here before I change my mind," he said.

Narcissa smiled. "Done," she said, squeezing his shoulder before she left the room. "Try not to worry too much."

She went to the living room where Draco was sprawled on the couch.

"So are we still going?" He asked her.

"We're going." She said, taking some floo powder from a jar on the mantle. "Here, take some and remember it's Sunnydale Bookshop not bookstore. Would you like to go first?"

"Actually I'd like to not go at all," Draco replied looking at the sooty fireplace with a grimace. "but I'm pretty sure you'd tell me that's not an option."

"Smart boy. I'll go first." she answered. She threw a handful of the green powder into the fireplace and when the fire turned green, she stepped inside, called, "Sunnydale Bookshop," and was gone

With one last disgusted look towards the fireplace, Draco followed his mother's lead and disappeared too.

888888888

"Okay, please don't tell me that you all are planning to go with me," Faith asked when she came out of the bathroom and found B, Red, and Harris sitting on the couch expectantly.

"Alright," Buffy said cheerfully.

"B," Faith said warningly.

"C'mon just think of us as your moral support group." Buffy said cheekily.

"Get real," Faith snorted. "The only reason you're going is to make sure that I go which just for the record really isn't much of a guarantee. I'm not sure why lil' Red Riding Hood and Captain Spaz here are tagging along though."

Willow ignored the jibe. "I thought it would be interesting to meet an actual witch," she said with a shrug.

"And I have nothing better to do," Xander said.

"Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Spike?" Faith asked, not that she thought Spike needed babysitting.

"He's sleeping," Xander replied. "He seems to do that a lot during the day."

"Maybe because he's a vampire," Faith said giving him a 'duh' look.

"Hate to break it to you F, but short of bodily harm there's no way you can stop us from going," Buffy said still cheerful.

"Bodily harm's sounding pretty good right about now," Faith said, rubbing a hand over her eyes. She didn't need this right now. She was tired (she hadn't gotten much sleep for obvious reasons) and nervous as hell which annoyed her to no end. So on top of things, she was irritable. If there was one thing she hated it was not being in control of her feelings. "You know what, whatever, it's a free country, do what you want, just stay the hell out of my way." With that she strolled out the door knowing for sure they would follow. And they didn't disappoint.

They were almost out of the apartment building when Xander spoke. "Earlier when you said Captain Spaz, did you mean me?" he asked curiously.

"Unbelievable," Faith muttered. That had to be a record. She'd insulted him minutes ago and he was just noticing now. Louder she said, "Shut it, Harris."

"What?" Xander asked. "I'm just asking."

Faith whirled around. "Listen Harris, if you know what's good for your health you'll shut the fuck up, now."

They started walking in the direction of the park. Luckily Harris had gotten the hint. Unluckily, B and Red had decided to become all chatty.

"So what do you think they're going to be like?" Willow asked tentatively.

"Haven't thought about." Faith lied. It was all she'd thought about last night.

"By the way, who's they?" Buffy asked curiously. At Faith's blank look she clarified, "who are you supposed to be meeting?"

Faith shrugged. "I guess the lady who wrote the letter." She said.

"Not your dad?" Willow asked.

Dad. The word alone caused her emotions to riot. Anger, resentment, anticipation, a little fear, mostly of the unknown, and a foreign emotion she refused to name. "I prefer the term sperm donor," Faith said acidly. "And that's not even for sure yet. For all I know this could be the next episode on some hidden camera show."

"You know it's not," Buffy said quietly.

"At the moment I don't know anything," Faith said honestly.

They were silent for the rest of the walk. Before Faith knew it, they were standing in front of Sunnydale Park. Buffy and Co. went inside and immediately started fighting over swings but Faith remained frozen just outside the park.

"Faith?" Buffy asked questioningly coming back to the entrance.

"I can't." Faith said feeling the first waves of hysteria rise in her throat.

"Yes you can," Buffy said firmly.

Faith shook her head frantically. "No, no I can't." she said.

It was a first, Buffy realized. This was the first time she'd ever seen Faith actually nervous. The first time Faith had actually cared enough about something to even think about being nervous. Even when she had killed that man, she'd been a bit shocked but she hadn't seemed to really worry about what it would mean. Buffy knew she had to get Faith to snap out of it somehow. She paused for a second to wonder about the irony of the situation. So much had changed in the past couple of months but some things like her weird, completely screwed up relationship with Faith remained the same. Half the time she wasn't even sure if she liked the girl but she still wanted to help her.

Buffy put a hand on her hip. "Excuse me? This is coming from the girl who's faced numerous demons and vampires with nothing but the stake in her hand? C'mon what's happened to your famous or infamous 'My world, my rules, take it or leave it' 'tude? What happened to 'want, take, have'? You want this?"

"It's not that easy, B," Faith replied.

But Buffy refused to give up. "Do you want this?" she repeated.

Faith sighed. "Yeah," she admitted.

"Then all you have to do is take it. Work at hard enough and you just might be able to keep it." Buffy said.

Faith took another deep breath. Buffy was right (she'd agonize over the fact that she'd just admitted the blonde midget was right about something, even if it was only to herself, later). She had to get her cool back. She was Faith, she could handle this. "Want, take, have," She whispered almost to herself.

"Okay," Faith nodded confidently after another couple of seconds. "I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Are you guys coming or not?" Harris called.

"We're coming," Buffy called back. "We are coming, right?"

"Yeah," Faith assured her. They made their way over to where Willow and Xander were. Just before they were within hearing distance, Faith stopped Buffy. "Just for the record, let's keep what happened back there just between us. Kay?" she said.

Buffy shook her head. Trust the almighty Faith to see showing any emotion other than aloofness as a weakness. "What's one more secret between two slayers?" Buffy said with a shrug.

"Good," Faith said.

"Hey," Xander said motioning them over. "I think we've found your folks." He told Faith.

"What? Where?" Faith said starting to scan the surrounding areas.

"Don't do that," Willow admonished. "They'll notice you."

"I'm gonna have to meet them anyway so I don't think it makes much of difference if they notice me now or later," Faith said, still searching the park.

"Yes it does if you want to get the chance to scope them out first," Willow said.

Immediately Faith stopped. "Good point," she conceded.

"So what do they look like?" Buffy asked curiously.

"See for yourself," Willow said with a grin. "Not you Faith, they're sort of behind you so it would be really obvious if you turned around." She added.

Faith growled, frustrated.

"Okay are we talking about the blonde lady and her kid?" Buffy asked turning to be causal as she looked in the direction Willow had directed her in.

"Yeah," Willow answered.

"What makes you think that's them?" Faith interjected.

"I don't think," Willow said. "I'm pretty sure that's them."

"Why?" Faith asked impatiently.

"Hello? I've lived in Sunnydale my whole life and it's a really small town so I know an out of towner when I see one. And there's enough crazy stories about Sunnydale to keep everyone who doesn't have a reason to be here, out. They have a reason to be here. So it's most likely them." Willow deduced.

Buffy let out a low whistle. "If that's them, then I think you just hit the jackpot, Faith. They look like they're loaded with money."

Money? That wasn't something Faith had considered. "Explain." She said.

"Their clothes, for starters." Buffy replied.

"You think so?" Xander asked. "I mean sure the kid's dressed a little too dressy but maybe he just doesn't like jeans and sneakers."

"Define dressy," Faith asked tersely. She hoped it wasn't too dressy, because the only people who dressed dressy for everyday affairs were people who were rolling in it. And if that was the case, then she was out. Rich people were so not her style.

"It's more like dressy causal. Kind of preppy, actually. Dress shirt rolled up at the elbows, slacks and let's just say he's not wearing Nikes." Buffy said studying the boy. "And how does that make him rich?" Xander wanted to know.

"It's more than the clothes, Xan, it's how they're wearing them," Buffy explained. "It's the air about them. Especially the kid."

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "It's like he's arrogant because he knows he's got a reason to be but at the same time it's so ingrained in him he doesn't notice."

"He's kind of cute actually," Buffy said.

"You think?" Willow asked doubtfully. "He's all broody and scowly and just-"

"Forget this, I'm turning around." Faith interrupted already spinning around. She immediately spotted them. If she hadn't been so nervous earlier she would've zeroed in on them just because they looked so out of place. She tried to get a feel on them while being as objective as possible. She could definitely see the resemblance between the two and concluded for herself that the woman was the kid's mother. The 'kid' was probably in his late teens, maybe her own age or a little younger. Buffy had been right; they reeked of upper class. Despite it, the lady, Narcissa, she corrected herself, looked normal enough. She was pacing, every now and then wringing her hands. She was nervous, Faith figured out with relief. It suddenly made her more human, more approachable. As for the kid, Willow had hit the nail on the head. The only emotion she could read on his face was boredom. Suddenly Narcissa looked up and locked eyes with Faith. Her shock and surprise was palpable as she reached blindly for her son to steady herself.

"Well, it's showtime," Faith muttered to herself. She forced herself to relax and start walking towards them. She stopped about five feet away from them.

"Hey," She said, not able to think of anything else to say.

"Faith?" the woman asked.

"Narcissa?" Faith asked back.

The woman nodded.

"Then yeah I'm Faith." Faith answered.

The woman nodded again, seemingly at loss for words. Faith remained quiet too, mostly because she also had no idea what to say in a situation like this.

"Are those your friends?" Narcissa asked politely gesturing behind Faith.

Faith looked over her shoulder to see the Scooby gang right behind her. She groaned out loud, this was awkward enough already. The last thing she needed was an audience.

"Believe me, they are _not_ my friends," Faith said darkly.

Narcissa looked uncertainly at the scoobies.

"We're not her friends," Xander said trying to assure the woman.

"They're more like my prison wardens," Faith said throwing Buffy a murderous glance.

"Well, if you insist," Narcissa said, still uncertain.

It was then Faith noticed the accent. "Holy crap, you're- you're British?" she said.

"Talk about power of observation," the kid muttered under his breath.

So the kid had an attitude problem, Faith noted. That made her get over her shock damn quick. "I'm sorry, kid." She said coolly. "You say something?"

"Faith," Buffy said warningly. She'd heard the kid too.

"Not to you," He said just as coolly.

"Really?" Faith said with a not very pleasant smile. "Cos that's not the way I heard it, kiddo."

"Then you should have your hearing checked, don't you think?" He drawled, appearing not to care about the feral look Faith was giving him.

She'd barely met the kid and already she didn't like him. "Listen," she stopped short as she realized she didn't know his name. "What's your name? I'm getting kind tired of calling you kid."

The 'kid' remark seemed to raise his hackles. "Malfoy," he said. "Draco Malfoy."

Faith couldn't help but snicker. The way he introduced his name.

The boy, Draco, raised an eyebrow. "You have a problem with my name?" he asked, straightening up.

"Naw," Faith said, still grinning. "Just the way you said it. Very Bond like. Of course it helps that you got accent. And the eyebrow, nice touch. Is there some kind of James Bond 101 class you can take to learn these things?"

"Who the bloody hell is James Bond?" Draco asked, clearly not appreciating the fact that he was being likened to him.

"You don't know James Bond?" Xander asked, shocked. "Everybody knows James Bond! You know, 007? The name's Bond, James Bond?" Xander added doing his best Bond impression.

"Can't say I've met him," Draco said acidly.

That got Faith started all over again, this time Buffy joined in. Willow looked nervously at the boy. The irritated look on his face said he didn't like being the butt of their joke.

"He's not real," Willow said trying to explain. "He's a fictional character."

Draco nodded curtly, saying her understood but still didn't like the fact that he was being laughed at. When Faith and Buffy stopped laughing, another awkward settled over the group.

"So the land of tweed," Buffy said finally. "Who'd thunk it?"

When nobody responded, Faith gave Buffy a look that said to give her a moment alone. Buffy nodded and motioning for Willow and Xander to follow, walked away.

"Okay," Faith said, taking charge. "We've gotten the fact that I'm Faith and you're Narcissa. You wrote me a letter and I replied. Now let's figure out if I'm the person you're looking for."

"You are," Narcissa said firmly.

"There's no guarantee," Faith said shaking her head. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. First act of defense, denial. Old habits died hard and still she continued. "So you're friend gave up her kid for adoption some 19 years ago. So I'm adopted and I'm 19. It doesn't prove anything."

"You don't get it," Draco spoke up.

"Well, why don't explain it to me?" Faith said as sweetly as she could, which wasn't very sweet since even she could hear the venom in her voice.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Genetics don't lie," he said simply. "All a person has to do is look at you and they'll be able to tell you're a Black."

"Black?" Faith repeated.

"The family name," Narcissa explained.

"Well, aren't you a Black?" Faith asked. When she nodded, Faith said, "You don't look anything like me."

"I take after my mother," Narcissa said. "But you look exactly like my sister, Bella and everyone knows she got the classic Black looks in the family."

The name Bella rang a bell, (no pun intended) Faith tried to think of where she heard it before but couldn't. "I'm still not convinced." She said.

"Maybe it's because you don't want to be convinced," Draco said quietly.

Faith ignored him.

"Well, other than having you actually meet your dad and see for yourself the resemblance I don't know how else to get you to believe me." Narcissa said, twisting her hands helplessly.

Somewhat reluctantly, Draco spoke up. "Didn't she- Lily, leave anything with her when she gave her up?" he asked.

"Wait, she did, we did," Narcissa said, her tone belaying her excitement. "I don't know if you still have it. A necklace. It was a family heirloom that belonged to Lily. She'd gotten from her mum who got it from her mum and so on."

That got Faith's attention. "A necklace? How'd it look?" she asked trying to remain calm.

"It was actually a locket. It was gold but it was on a silver chain because the original chain had broken years ago," Narcissa described.

"Was it in the shape of a heart?" Faith asked hesitantly.

"Yes!"

Faith nodded. "And did it have an engraving on the back?" she asked, testing her.

That seemed to take some of the air out of Narcissa's excitement. "No, no it didn't have any engravings. Well, it did have one inside but the locket's clasp was jammed so you couldn't see it." Narcissa said. "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

She did and Faith had yet to figure out if that was a good thing or if it was bad. She vaguely remembered seeing a heart shaped locket in her mother's jewelry box. The only reason she remembered was her mother had told her that when she was old enough it would belong to her. Of course, that was during one of her mother's clean spells and god knew those never lasted long. The minute she went back to using, the locket disappeared with everything else that had value, sold to a little pawn shop on the corner of the street to support her mother's habit.

Slowly Faith nodded. "Well, looks like I'm your girl." She said, not knowing what else to say. "Where do we go from here?"

Narcissa started to answer but Faith quickly zoned her out as all of her slayer senses went on alert. She glanced over to where Buffy was sitting on a park bench not too far away. Buffy nodded, signaling she'd felt the first signs of danger too. Simultaneously, they honed in on two beefy men walking briskly towards Faith. Buffy started to stand up but Faith gave her a warning look that said to let her try and handle it.

"Do you know those blokes?" Draco asked gesturing to the two men.

"Not yet," Faith said. "How about you guys give me a minute alone with them?"

"Are you sure?" Narcissa asked worriedly glancing to the men. "They don't look very friendly."

"Hey I specialize in dealing with unfriendly folks." Faith said with a grin. "Don't worry about me. Just let me deal with them on my own."

"If you insist," Narcissa said still a bit unsure. "Come on Draco."

"Do I have too?" Draco asked. "They look like they want to beat you into a bloody pulp and I don't want to miss that."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, kid," Faith said. "But if anybody's going to get beat to a 'bloody pulp', it's them."

Draco looked dubiously at the two men then at Faith. "Right," he drawled.

"Wanna bet?" Faith challenged.

Before Draco could say anything, his mother spoke up. "Let's go, Draco," Narcissa told him anxiously, already walking away, as the men approached Faith.

"Faith?" one the men asked.

"Yeah?" she returned, not seeing a point in denying her identity.

"You've been summoned by the Watcher's Council," he said, his words short and clipped.

"So?" Faith said airily, filing the fact that they were from the Watcher's Council not the FBI away.

The other man shook his head. "You're presence is required in front of the Watcher's Council, today sooner than tomorrow." He said his words distinct as if that would make her understand better.

"Sorry, I got some things I need care of over here," Faith said spacing her words like he had, deliberately mocking him. "I just don't think it would be possible."

The man's face hardened even more if it was possible. He looked like he had been expecting her refusal and from the look he shared with the other man, anticipating it? "I figured you'd say something like that," he growled.

"Then why'd you ask in the first place?' Faith asked.

"It's called procedure," the guy replied. "So one last time, do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"Do you have to ask?" Faith said a split second before she crouched into a fighting stance.

"So be it," he said, satisfaction ringing in his voice and with that he charged. Faith easily sidestepped him. So he wanted to fight her even though, or maybe because, he knew she was the Slayer. That thought alone made her cautious. The Watcher's Council wouldn't have sent him and his buddy if they didn't think they were capable of taking her down. Watching the other man out of the corner of her eye, she decided that he would be more of the challenge. Unlike his overeager partner, he was standing still, watching her, studying her. She felt a delicious shiver go up her spine. It had been such a long time since she'd a real fight. A nothing held back, sweating, panting, fighting for your life kind of fight. Maybe it was a bit suicidal but she was more than looking forward to it. She gave him a slow, steady 'come and get big guy' type of smile.

Only he didn't come and get it but his partner sure did. After he had fallen in his attempt to charge at her, she'd stopped paying attention. Big mistake, she thought as he came ramming into her from behind. Because he was weighed a hundred pounds more than she did and she because she hadn't been expecting it, he knocked her over, face first. She barely managed to avoid landing on her face, instead planting her hands to break her fall at the last minute. It was a futile move since the 'rhino' as she had dubbed him, landed on her.

"Oomph," Faith said, getting a face full of dirt as her hands collapsed. "Okay maybe I underestimated you." Maybe? She'd definitely underestimated him. He'd obviously sized her up and realized that when it came to agility she'd top him, so he decided to use his weight.

"This was almost too easy," the rhino said smugly. He sat back on his heels and roughly twisted her hands behind her back.

"Ya think so?" Faith asked right before rearing her head back so it connected squarely with his nose. She heard the cartilage give away with a satisfying crunch and smiled. Like she had expected, he immediately let go of her hands to gingerly cup his nose all the while moaning.

Faith got up. "I got admit, I'm disappointed. I expected more of you," she said shaking her head. When he made a move to get up, she pushed him, hard and for an extra good measure, she kicked him in the balls. The sound he made was too high pitched to call a yell.

"One down, one more to go," she said, admiring her handiwork.

Just then she felt more than heard Buffy's warning cry. Faith turned around quickly enough to see Buffy kick something that looked like a gun out the other guy's hand. He didn't even pause and returned her kick with a punch that landed solidly on the side of her face. Buffy stumbled backwards but she regained her footing soon enough. He didn't even wait for her to recover before she aimed another punch at her, this time her stomach. But Buffy was prepared for him this time, she caught his meaty fist in her hand.

"Bet you weren't expecting that, were you?" she said with big, mean, slayer grin. She used her other hand to backhand punch him before kicking him in the side.

"I'd appreciate it if you saved some for me, B!" Faith called.

Buffy turned around to give Faith a quick grin, and in that split second the tables turned. Rhino number 2 used her distraction against her and before she knew it he'd kicked out her legs from under her. He used one leg to keep her pinned to the ground.

Faith was already running towards Buffy when she spotted the gun that Rhino no. 2 had been carrying. Without a second thought, she picked it up, aimed, fired and hit the rhino square in the leg with a dart.

"You, you," he had a second to growl before his eyes rolled back and he collapse on the ground. Buffy moved from under, narrowly escaping being crushed.

"Who'd thunk?" Faith said examining the gun look a like thing. "It's a tranquilizer. A heck of a lot smaller than most tranquilizers I've seen."

"Yeah but it packs a whole lot more punch," Buffy said coming over to look at the gun. "Check out what it did to the giant. Knocked him out in 0.2 seconds flat."

"That settles it," Faith decided. "I'm keeping it."

"Faith," Buffy said warningly.

"Hey finders keepers, losers weepers and all that shit," Faith said with a grin as she tucked the gun into her waistband of her jeans.

"That is so 1st grade," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.

Willow and Xander came over.

"That was certainly refreshing to watch," Xander said cheerfully. "It's been a while since somebody really got beat up around here."

"Bloodthirsty, much?" Willow asked.

Xander put up his hands in mock surrender. "Hey, I wasn't the one doing the beating." He said.

At that moment Narcissa and Draco chose to come over. Narcissa looked like she wanted to say something but she didn't know what.

"I think I speak for both me and my mother, when I ask what the bloody hell was that?" Draco said, he appeared to be in shock.

"Glad you didn't take me up on my bet, aren't ya Slick?" Faith said.

Draco snorted. "Hardly," he said. "If it wasn't for her-" he pointed at Buffy. "You'd be done."

Buffy puffed with pride.

"Oh please," Faith said, waving his comment aside. "I would've managed on my own. Besides, I saved her ass too."

"I would've managed on my own," Buffy parroted.

Narcissa spoke up. "I don't know exactly how to phrase this but what we just saw that wasn't normal, was it?" she asked hesitantly.

Buffy looked at Faith as if to ask how much they should tell her.

"They're from the wizarding world, B." Faith said with a shrug. "It won't be that much of a shock."

Both Narcissa and Draco gaped at her. Draco was the first to recover. "You know about the wizarding world?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Learned about it recently," Buffy said. "Like yesterday. We saw the owl and just connected the dots."

Narcissa nodded still not understanding.

Faith sighed. "The thing is we're Slayers." She said.

If it was possible that seemed to shock them even more. "Slayers?" Draco said in a hushed voice. "The Slayer. Wait- there can only be one Slayer at a time. How's this possible?"

"It's a long story," Buffy hedged.

"She died for a couple of minutes but was brought back. Another slayer was called, she died. I was called," Faith explained.

"Apparently not that long." Buffy said staring hard at Faith.

"Slayers," Draco said nodding. "A Slayer, Oh I can't wait to see Sirius's reaction," he added with a chortle.

"Draco, shut it," His mother said impatiently still absorbing the information Faith had given her. "So you already know about the wizarding world." She settled on.

Faith nodded warily. "Sort of," she said.

"That's a relief," Narcissa said. "Here I was thinking trying to think of ways to explain it to you that wouldn't make you run away screaming."

"Not a whole lot that can make me scream," Faith said, relieved that Narcissa was relieved. "How about you guys? Not to weirded out by the Slayer thing?"

Narcissa took a moment to ponder through the slang, when she finally understood what Faith was saying she shook her head, "Oh no. I've never met a Slayer but like mostly everybody in the wizarding world we are aware of her existence."

"So it's no biggy?" Faith asked.

"biggy?" Narcissa had to ask.

"Big deal. A problem," Faith clarified.

"Not at all," Narcissa said.

Faith nodded. "Well, either way I don't really do the slaying thing anymore," Faith said.

"You were doing it less then just five minutes ago," Draco pointed out.

"That's mostly because I had to," Faith said. "It was either that or let them take me,"

"Take you?" Draco asked.

"Long story," Faith said. She noticed Buffy's grin and shot her a warning look. Surprisingly, Buffy heeded the warning.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Narcissa asked softly.

"Nothing I can't handle," Faith said, ever the smooth operator.

"You sure?" Buffy asked. "Because from where I'm looking you could use the help."

"B," Faith began.

"What? They're you're family," Buffy said. "Let them help you."

"Give us a minute," Faith said thru clenched teeth, dragging Buffy away. "What the _fuck_ do you think you're playing at, B? And don't tell me you're just trying to help. I'm dealing just fine thank you."

"Oh really?" Buffy said, cocking an eyebrow. "Than what were those two goons doing here, huh? And you can be sure they're going to send more, the FBI too. They all know you're here, Faith."

"Then I'll get the hell out of here first thing tomorrow morning," Faith said.

"How?" Buffy retorted. "They're monitoring every way out of this place, the minute you move they'll be on you so fast, your head will spin. But if you take the chance that Narcissa's offering, you'll be out and you'll finally shake them off-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Faith said stopping Buffy in midstream. "What chance? What are you talking about it?"

Buffy sighed. "We overheard her talking to her son. She wants to ask you to go back with them. To England." Buffy said.

And that was probably the biggest shock of the day. "What?" Faith practically screeched.

"Lower your voice," Buffy shushed her.

"She,- I, whoa," Faith said settling down into a park bench.

"Think it through, Faith. You say yes, you get out of Sunnydale and nobody will know. I'm sure they got here by some hocus pocus shit and that's probably how they're going to get out. You'll get to meet your dad and you'll get a whole new lease on life. That's a helluva lot more than anybody gets and more than you deserve." Buffy said.

On one level, Faith got what Buffy was saying. But to go live with these people she barely knew? It boggled her mind. "I don't think so," Faith said.

That's when Buffy just about lost it. "I don't care what you think. This is your way out and it's mine."

"Yours?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, mine. It's about time you got out of my life," Buffy said. "All you've done is be a complete pain since you've gotten out of the coma. I can't do anything because both the Council and the Feds are watching my every move and I'm sick of it. So I'm telling you to get the hell out of my town."

Faith stood up. "You threatening me, B?" she asked stepping close until they were nose to nose.

"You bet your ass." Buffy shot back. "I want you out. I don't care if it's with Narcissa or in handcuffs but I want you out. How is your choice." And with that she walked away.

Well, that was certainly a nice fix. Faith stared at Narcissa and Draco who were being pumped for information by Willow. Could she go and make herself a new life? She doubted it but the thought of going back with Narcissa and Draco was more appealing then her alternatives, like ending up in a dingy cell or dead. "Not much of choice," Faith muttered before heading over to where they were all standing.

"Faith," Narcissa said. "I have something I'd like to ask you. I know that the chances of you saying yes are slim, but I promised your dad I'd try." The fact that she was blabbing showed she was nervous.

"Shoot," Faith said. Thanks to Buffy she knew what she was going to say.

"How would you like to come and stay with us, for a while?" she asked, holding her breath. "It would just be for a while. For as long as you want actually. So you could get to know your dad, but only if you want."

"Narcissa," Faith said, interrupting her.

"Yes?" she asked.

Faith took a deep breath. "Why not?" she said.

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First of all, I'm so sorry if this chapter was strewn with mistakes. I really didn't get a chance to read it over but since my internet is crappy I don't know when I'd be able to put it up so I'm putting it up now. Forgive me. Hope you liked it anyway. Review! Please!

-TDL


	6. Meet the Padfoot, er Parent

**A/N: **Okay, so here's chapter six. Took me a while but it's finally here. The problem or I guess the complication with this fic is that it's, at least for me, a lot more serious than the other fics. I want to be sure I have the characters right, so I do a lot of thinking before I write and once I write I do a lot of rewriting. The result is further spaced updates but on the bright side, the fic has a lot more cannon-y and realistic feel to it. Thanks to **jadelouise, No Named Angel, Love-Of-The-Draconis, RedQueen, WhiteTwitch, Laura , Davide Piccinini, and ****Deamondeathstone **for reviewing. Your reviews mean the world to me! And moving on from that bit of sappiness, go read chapter six! And review!

**Previously:**

"_We overheard her talking to her son. She wants to ask you to go back with them. To England." Buffy said._

_And that was probably the biggest shock of the day. "What?" Faith practically screeched._

………

"_I don't think so," Faith said._

_That's when Buffy just about lost it. "I don't care what you think. This is your way out and it's mine."_

………

_Faith stood up. "You threatening me, B?" she asked stepping close until they were nose to nose._

"_You bet your ass." Buffy shot back. "I want you out. I don't care if it's with Narcissa or in handcuffs but I want you out. How is your choice."_

"_Not much of choice," Faith muttered before heading over to where they were all standing._

………

"_Faith," Narcissa said. "I have something I'd like to ask you………. How would you like to come and stay with us, for a while"_

………

_Faith took a deep breath. "Why not?" she said._

888888888

**CH. 6: Meet the Padfoot, er Parent**

"Finally," Buffy moaned heaving herself on the couch the minute she, Willow, Xander entered Giles' apartment. "That has got to be the longest day and night that I've had in a long time."

"I know what you mean," Xander agreed sitting down next to her. "I feel like we should be breaking out the chips and beer."

"But we don't drink beer, Xan," Willow said, taking the armchair.

"I beg to differ," Xander said, affronted. "I drink beer."

"Uh no you don't," Willow and Buffy said at the same time then grinned at each other in the way best friends do when they catch themselves doing something best friend-y. If Faith had been there, she would've called nauseating. But to their obvious relief and Xander's party mood, Faith was long gone as of about an hour ago. The only one who wasn't happy about that was Spike who had voluntarily locked himself in the bathroom so he could sulk at the loss of his only friend in this hellhole.

"I do too drink beer!" Xander reiterated.

Willow merely gave him her patented Don't Try to Fool Me, look.

"Well, I've drank beer before," he amended.

Buffy snorted. Although she'd closed her eyes she was closely following the conversation. "You drank beer once, Xan. Once in our junior year. And after that you threw it all up on Harmony."

"Which by the way, was an extremely nice touch," Willow added. "It got you dubbed the biggest loser around school for a while but was satisfying to watch while it lasted."

"Never happened," Xander denied, folding his arms.

"Are you doing that selective memory thing, Xan?" Willow asked. "Cause that's usually my line of work and I'm not sure I appreciate you stealing it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he insisted.

"That's it," Buffy said, cracking open an eye. "Bring out the 'Album', Willow."

Xander gasped. "That's a very cruel and unnecessary tactic." He said.

"I think it's necessary," Willow put in. "Cruel, but necessary."

"Then you admit you never drank beer expect for that time in junior year when you threw up all over Harmony?" Buffy pushed.

Xander winced. "Don't ever say that sentence again. I prefer to believe that I live in an alternate reality where that and a long list of embarrassing things I've done never happened. And in which I'm dating Jessica Alba."

Willow wrinkled her nose. "You could do better than that. In your make- believe alternate reality at least."

"Fine. I'm dating Angelina Jolie and I drive a Lamborghini." He added.

"Ooh, Lamborghini," Willow said, excited. "Do I get to ride in it?"

"Sure," Xander said after a moment's hesitation. The moment's hesitation was due to the fact that he'd had to first remember what she was asking since he'd been caught up in a typical teenage boy with raging hormones fantasy that included Angelina and him in the backseat of the Lamborghini and just for the record, they weren't talking.

Of course Willow took the hesitation to mean something completely else. "I knew it," she accused him, her excitement deflating. "You've totally ditched me in your fantasy haven't you? I mean, now that you're dating Angelina Jolie, there's no need for poor awkward red headed Willow, is there?"

"NO," Xander said, taken aback.

"I don't believe you," Willow said loftily. "But it doesn't matter cause now you can't be a part of my make-believe alternate reality."

Buffy grinned as she let the sounds of their arguments wash over her. Relax her, calm her down after today's events. She wasn't worried, Xander would find a way to soothe over Willow's hurt feelings. That's the way it always was. Their bantering, their arguing, it was their norm. Sitting around or in her case lying around, this is what they did, this was their normal. The three of them, the heart of the scoobies. Others might come and go but Willow and Xander and her, they were there for keeps. The thought brought a lingering smile to Buffy's lips.

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If that wasn't a sight, then Angel didn't know what was. Seeing Buffy lying down on the couch, truly relaxed, smiling at a thought only she was privy to eased an ache in his lonely heart, one that only she could ease. At the same time it brought on another kind of ache, this one so deep it was almost physical. He wanted to be the reason why she looked like that, all soft and lax, as if the demons of this earth couldn't touch her. He wanted to be able to share her smiles and the thoughts that were responsible for them. But until she said the word, that wasn't going to happen.

Straightening from where he was leaning against the door way, he made his way over to her. Before he'd even taken two steps, her eyes flew open and instinctively sought him out. It never failed to amaze him how she could do that, immediately pick him out whenever he was in the same general area as she was. But then it shouldn't since it was the same for him. He offered a small smile, one that he reserved especially for her. For a second, still caught up in her own thoughts, she smiled back; a lazy, inviting kind of smile that nearly made his heart stop. Of course since he was dead, it was only hypothetical but it still gave him a jolt. And then she seemed to remember exactly everything that had happened between them yesterday and in the past and the smile dropped off her face and was replaced with a cold glare as she stood up.

"What," she began coldly. "Are you doing here?" Not even waiting for him to answer she asked another question, "How'd you get in here? We're the only ones home and nobody opened the door for you and I sincerely doubt that Giles would give _you_ a key."

Well that hurt. Not what she was saying, since it was pretty much true but that she'd throw it in his face. On purpose. With the intent of hurting him. He never, in a million years, would've expected that from her. _What do you expect you bloody wanker?_ said an inner voice that sounded suspiciously like Spike. _You keep breaking her heart, keep walking out on her. Do you think she's just going to take it laying down?_

Keeping his face and voice impassive, he answered with a shrug, "I knocked. No one answered. I could hear you guys in here. So I let myself in."

"Let yourself in?" She repeated coolly. Xander and Willow watched them from the sidelines, more then content to not get involved.

"I picked up a couple tricks over the centuries," he replied just as coolly, now the one deliberately putting space between them by reminding them of their differences. Despite understanding her reasons for wanting to hurt him, his first instinct was still to hurt back.

Buffy's eyes narrowed, having caught what was unsaid. "Well, I'm pretty sure that these 'tricks' were just as illegal-not wrong- back then as they are now."

"My, my," he said in a sneer worthy of Angelus. That seemed to be Willow and Xander's cue to leave. "Aren't you the Queen of morality?"

"Compared to you, I am!" She shot back.

And wasn't that the sad, sad truth? Angel wondered as all his anger deflated. Compared to him she was an angel, ironic puns aside. A beautiful innocent angel that was beyond out of his league; he should've walked away the first time Whistler had shown him Buffy, then he wouldn't even be having in this conversation in this first place. _And you'd be back living in filth infested holes surviving off rats,_ the Spike like voice taunted, _and wouldn't that just be fun?_

Tried of the voice in his the head (he thought it might be his conscience) that popped up whenever he was around Buffy, tired of fighting with said Buffy and just plain tired, he decided to leave. "I think I'm going to head out now," he said tonelessly. "Tell Giles I stopped by and need to talk to him."

That quickly took all the fight out of Buffy too and left her standing in the living room, uncertain what to do.

He was nearly at the door when he heard her say in a small voice, "Don't go."

He paused, waited.

She took a deep breath. "Please?" she asked her voice wobbling a bit. It was really annoying how he could make her emotions turn upside down, she thought, as she held back a sniffle. First happiness, pure undulated joy that resulted just from seeing him smile in that special way he had at her, then anger and an almost unstoppable need to hurt him, as all the things he'd done in the past came rushing back. Then uncertainty and pain, for him, at hearing such utter defeat and dejection in his voice, knowing that she'd pushed him there. Finally, an emptiness in her soul that almost swallowed her whole at the thought of him walking away from her. Again. The tears were just a result of all the jumbled emotions and confusion she was feeling. Once again she was hit with another flash of annoyance at the fact that he'd been in the room for less then two minutes and he'd already ruined her happy mood at seeing the last of Faith and had turned her into a weeping mess. Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from holding out her arms towards him and saying, aware it was more like begging, "Stay with me? Okay?"

She didn't have to ask him twice. He strode over to her and pulled her tight to him. Wrapping her arms around him, Buffy gave a shaky sigh as she rested her head on his shoulder. She didn't apologize for what she said, for hurting him because she already knew it was forgiven. It made her feel mean and spiteful for holding onto her hurt but she wasn't ready to relinquish that, not yet. "I hate you for leaving me, you know that?" she said, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

"I know."

Buffy took a deep breath and gathered the courage she needed to say the next part, "But I still love you, too. And-and," she swallowed past the lump in her throat. "I don't know what that means. Where it puts us. Everything is all twisted and muddled and it's confusing and – it hurts my head just to think about it all. God what a mess." She finished miserably.

"I know," he repeated cradling her head with one hand and drawing soothing circles on her back with the other. "I know exactly what you're feeling because I've been there before, I'm there now. Except for the hating you part, I don't think I could ever hate you, no matter what happened."

Buffy was silent, then, "I don't _really_ hate you."

"Yeah?" Angel said, a grin splitting his face.

Buffy gave another little sniff. "You don't have to sound so happy about it. It doesn't mean you're even close to being forgiven."

"But it means there's a chance that you might forgive me. Somewhere in the near future," he added.

"Maybe," Buffy said evasively. Seeing the look he was giving her, she revised that. "Probably. Yes. Now don't get all excited, just because I agree to forgive you sometime in the near future, doesn't mean anything has changed between us."

"Do you actually believe that?"

"No," Buffy half said, half moaned burying her face in his shoulder once again. "You are absolutely horrible to my resolve. You're like a tempting, beautifully decorated sinful seven layer chocolate cake and I'm somebody who's decided to go on a diet. But of course nothing, especially not willpower, stands in the way of chocolate cake."

"Thanks, I think," Angel said.

Buffy looked up so she could glare at him. "That was not a compliment, mister!" she scolded. "It was more of a complaint. I don't _need_ you in my life right now. You complicate things, and everybody knows I have too many complications what with mom and dad fighting again about who's supposed to paying for college, and just attending said college, not to mention studying and all that stuff so I can actually pass my classes. And I still haven't got to the Slayer stuff yet. There's the basic slaying, then dealing with the Initiative, who have taken to experimenting around with demons and vampires, and Spike, who I still don't have any idea what I'm going to do with. And of course there's Riley-wait, I forgot, Faith took care of that." She said the last part bitterly, more annoyed that she'd lost yet another reason to stay away from Angel then the fact she'd been cheated on by her sort of boyfriend. Of course having cheated on him too, it was understandable that it didn't bug her too much. Now the fact that it was with Faith, that bugged her the hell out of her. Logically she couldn't blame Faith because, a) she hadn't known who he was and b) Buffy got her reasoning. But it was still another thing that Faith had managed to take away from her and yeah, that bugged her.

"Who's Riley?" Angel asked, rousing her from her thoughts.

"Riley?" Buffy repeated, not sure what she should tell him. He'd probably figured from her tone that there was a story there. Deciding that she'd rather not have him jump to conclusions and go grr on her, she told him the truth. "This guy I was semi-dating. He in the army, goes to the same college and works with the Initiative."

"Was dating?" Angel asked carefully.

Buffy nodded. "Was, as in the past tense.'' She clarified.

"And how'd that happen?"

"Faith," Buffy said simply with a shrug.

"Faith?" Angel repeated sort of getting it but not wanting to jump to conclusions.

"Some guys from the Watcher's Council came after Faith today. We fought them, kicked their asses. And I swear the Initiative must have cameras all over Sunnydale cause less then ten minutes later they showed up. Riley being one of them. Long story short, we had one of those awkward love triangle moments when it became obvious that he and Faith knew each other. Now, Faith had no clue that I was going out with him, not that I think it would've made a difference, so she readily divulged the fact that they'd spent yesterday night getting to know each other. Between the sheets. And everything pretty much went downhill from that." Buffy ended. After punching Riley, mostly because the situation demanded it, she'd all but kicked Faith and her newfound relatives out of Sunnydale only giving her time to get her things, which actually took longer that it was supposed to, since they discovered that Faith still had access to the apartment the Mayor had given her and all of the many things in it. Since Faith insisted that she wasn't planning on ever coming back to Sunnydale and that did Buffy's heart much good, she'd stood by albeit grudgingly while Faith packed up her belongings. And then Faith had popped in Giles' apartment to say bye to Spike and then they'd headed over to the main bookstore where they'd disappeared through the fireplace using some weird technique that included green powder. Having seen many strange things in her career as a Slayer, Buffy accepted it with a mere blink of an eye.

"I never thought I'd see the day, I'd be thanking Faith for something," Angel said. "But I'm damn thankful that she slept with that asshole."

"You're glad I got cheated on?" Buffy asked with a pout.

"Oh no," Angel chided playfully. "I'm not going to get caught in that trap. And don't kill me for saying this but you don't look too devastated over the whole cheating thing. Course that's probably cause you were-"

Knowing where he was going with that, Buffy smacked him on the arm. "Don't finish that sentence." She warned.

Angel grinned.

Buffy sighed. "It wouldn't have lasted anyway," she said replying to his earlier comment. "Riley and me. He just wasn't-" she stopped as she realized what she had been guilelessly about to say. _He just wasn't you._ And feeling stupid for not seeing it before, Buffy realized that's why none of the relationships she'd tried to have after breaking up with Angel had worked. They guys she dated, they just weren't Angel and for better or worse, the only thing her heart wanted was Angel. Like she'd told him, she didn't _need_ him but that didn't stop her from wanting him.

"What?" Angel asked. "He just wasn't what?"

Seeing the intense look on his face Buffy chose to refrain from enlightening him with her little epiphany. She'd pretty much laid all her cards on the table but she wasn't ready to give him this. "Uh, he just wasn't right for me. I think we both knew that. We would've acknowledged it soon, Faith just sort of sped that all up."

"And for that she has my gratitude," Angel said.

Buffy shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. But I'm still glad she's out of my hair," she said snuggling back into Angel's embrace. "From now on she's the problem of one Sirius Black. And of course Narcissa. There's also Draco but the point is I don't have to be the one who deals with her anymore." She tried to get even closer to Angel and it was then she realized that he'd gone stiffer than a board. "Angel what's wrong?"

"Please, please, please tell me that there's something wrong with my hearing and that I didn't just hear you say Sirius Black. Or Narcissa or Draco." Angel said carefully deciding it would be less productive if he completely lost it as he wanted too.

"No you heard me," Buffy said, puzzled.

Screw productiveness, Angel thought as he wrenched himself away from Buffy and let out a stream of curses.

"Angel?" Buffy questioned.

"Buffy do you have any idea who Sirius Black is?" he asked.

Buffy smiled nervously. "I'm assuming from the look on your face that I should but the answer is still no. Though now that you mention it the name sounds familiar."

Angel cursed again, this time in Gaelic since he'd run out of all the good ones in English.

Considering the fact that Angel had switched to cursing in a different language, Buffy realized that something was very wrong.

Angel abruptly stopped cursing and turned to look at Buffy. "Sirius Black? Order of the Phoenix? Wizarding War? Now does it ring a bell?"

"Ohhh, That Sirius Black." Buffy said as understanding dawned. "Well that's one for the list of weird twists of fate but I still don't see why this is such a problem. I mean, you knew that she was going to meet her family from the wizarding world-"

"I thought we were talking about some nice normal American wizarding family!" Angel interrupted. "It never crossed my mind that Faith might originally be English, let alone Sirius Black's daughter! She is his daughter isn't she?" There was so much similarity between the two, especially in looks, and that fact alone made him shake his head for not seeing it before. Of course, Buffy had mentioned Narcissa so she could be Sirius's niece through her, Angel thought, though he doubted it.

"Yeah, she's his daughter." Buffy assured him. "But still not seeing problem."

"She's Faith! She's a loose cannon. At the same time she's one heck of a valuable loose cannon, seeing as how she's the Slayer and a witch from one of the most powerful wizarding families."

"Well, weren't you guys in the Order looking for a Slayer? It sounds like you just hit the jackpot." Buffy said.

"They wanted you, not Faith. Faith was never even an option."

"Look I know Faith is doing the whole ex-Slayer routine right now but it's not bound to last. Soon or later the Slayer in her is going to get restless. And knowing Faith I'm betting on sooner. If you guys take advantage of that, you get a pretty powerful ally. You won't even need me."

"What's the guarantee that Faith won't go to Voldemort's side?" Angel asked, getting to the heart of the problem. "As of now, or sources tell us that he doesn't know or isn't interested in trying to get a Slayer on his side. But the minute he realizes the possibility of her joining Dumbledore's side he'll do everything in his power to get her. How does anybody know that she won't go over to the other side? She's done it before."

"And you know more than most people her reasons for doing that. She honestly felt like she didn't have another choice, that it was her only way out. And she covered it all up with her 'I'm bad' act." Buffy said.

"I know that," Angel agreed. "But at the same I know how easy it is to get in so deep you literally don't have a way out. I know how seductive, for lack of a better word, being bad can be. The power of it all and the knowledge that you have that power, it's like a drug. Ignore the guilt and the shame that comes with it long enough and you're hooked. I don't think Faith is strong enough to go through that, at least not at this moment."

"Well, I don't know how to put this but I don't think there's anything you can do about that." Buffy replied.

"No, but the least I can do is give the Order a head's up." Angel said grimly. "Knowing Faith they're going to need one."

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Narcissa glanced up at the clock in the kitchen impatiently for what had to be the twentieth time that afternoon.

"Of all the days," she muttered. She couldn't decide whether to be more mad or worried. Despite the fact that Sirius's name had been cleared for months now (he'd even become a sort of celebrity in the wizarding world), he rarely ventured out of his house which made his absence when he knew that there was a good chance Narcissa would be able to convince Faith to come with her, all the more unexpected. They'd been back for a good hour now and he was still nowhere to be found. Also for the twentieth the time that afternoon, Narcissa glanced down at the note Sirius had left, not that it was helpful in the least. In his messy handwriting he'd scrawled _Went to see Dumbledore. Will be back soon._

"Soon, he says," she muttered again.

"Talking to yourself again, Ciss?" Sirius said cheerfully coming up behind her. "That's not very healthy you know."

Narcissa jumped, startled by the sudden presence of her cousin. "Don't do that!" she said.

"What? Sneak up behind you?" Sirius said with a grin. "But you're so fun to scare."

Going on her tiptoes, Narcissa put a hand to Sirius's forehead. "You don't have a fever." She said.

Sirius swatted at her hand. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to figure out why all of the sudden you're acting like you're twelve." Narcissa answered.

Sirius shrugged. "Must be a side affect of the cheering charm Remus preformed on me," he said grinning.

"Cheering charm? Remus?" Narcissa shook her head. "I thought you went to see Dumbledore."

Sirius rocked back on his heels. "I did. See, right after you guys left, I remembered the Fidelius Charm on the house and how I'd completely forgotten to talk to Dumbledore about it. So I went to him and he fixed it so Faith would be able to enter the house like he did for Draco. Of course, that got us talking about Faith and my newfound fatherhood, and you know how just talking about that subject turns me into a complete nervous wreck. Luckily Remus was stopping by to give Dumbledore something or the other and he took pity on me and did a cheering charm. But judging from the snitches flying around in my stomach, it's starting to fade. "

"Good," Narcissa said. "I doubt you want to be jumping up and down and bouncing off the walls like a child when you meet your daughter. Which would be now."

"Now?" Sirius repeated suddenly looking ill.

"Now." Narcissa confirmed. "It was supposed to be an hour ago but-"

"She's here?" Sirius asked although he already knew the answer to that question.

"Upstairs. Probably unpacking. Since I was too busy trying to decipher where you went, I told Draco to give her a tour of the house and let her pick on of the unoccupied bedrooms on the second floor."

Sirius nodded, though he didn't seem to have heard a word she said. "What's she like?" he asked at last.

That question brought reminiscent tears to Narcissa's eyes. "You," she said swallowing past the lump in her throat. "Oh Sirius, she's exactly like you when you were a teenager. The whole 'devil may care' attitude, the somewhat perverse sense of humor, even the rebellion against authority figures. She has a chip on her shoulder- I don't know why- and judging from what I saw she has the same habit of getting into trouble that you were famous for. I guess it's genetic along with the classic Black looks. And she has those too, in spades."

Sirius smiled a bit uncertainly as he listened to Narcissa describe his daughter. _His daughter_, the words still threw him for a loop. He'd been a lot worried about how Faith would be like, but from what Narcissa said apparently that had been for naught. He'd worried about whether they'd be able to find anything in common, whether she'd like him or and though he hated to admit it whether he'd like her. There had never been any doubt about whether he'd love her or not; he loved her the minute he knew she existed, simply for being a part of him, a part of something he created. But he knew from experience that it was possible to love someone and to not like them. "Is she anything like Lily?" he asked.

Narcissa shook her head. "No," she said softly, sadly. She would've loved to see some of her late best friend in her daughter but maybe it just wasn't meant to be. "Not that I've seen but you never know. There's also something else-"

At that moment, Faith came pounding down the stairs. "Hey Narcissa, do you think there's someplace around here I can order takeout from?" she called. "Preferably Chinese. I don't know but something about the whole floo powder experience is making me crave-" What she was craving nobody found out and Faith promptly forgot as she came into the kitchen and got her first good look at the man who was her father.

"I'll give you two some space," Narcissa said quietly. Walking past Sirius she gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze though she doubt he noticed seeing how engrossed he was in Faith.

They studied each other for what seemed like an eternity, each lost in their own thoughts.

_Holy crack a monkey_. That was the first thought that came to Faith's mind as she gawked at the man in front of her. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a strong build. She glanced at his face and was so startled that she took two giant steps back.

"Well that just throws the need for genetic testing and all that shit out the window," she muttered shakily taking in his shaggy black hair, his dark eyes, the olive complexion, everything about his face that reminded her so much of her own.

"I beg your pardon?" Sirius said.

Faith gestured futilely. "I thought, even after everything, the locket, I thought maybe this was still just some kind of mix-up, but" she said with a helpless shrug. "You're standing right here in front of me and you have my face."

Sirius smiled crookedly. "Well actually it's the other way around." He said.

"Huh?"

"I'm the original, you're the carbon copy so you have my face," he explained all the while grinning.

Un-freakin-believable! Here they were meeting for the first time, something that was supposed to be deep and meaningful and all those other sappy words and he was cracking a joke? _Remind you of someone?_ Her conscience nagged. Faith fought a wry grin of her own as she realized that if he hadn't broken the moment with a joke, she ultimately would've. It was that little fact that finally made it click that this man was indeed her father.

Sirius let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding when he saw her smile. "So you're Faith," he said inanely.

"So you're Sirius," she returned careful to avoid using the term father.

They had an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"So-" Sirius began just to end the silence.

"Look-" Faith said at the same time.

They both stopped.

"You go first," they said at the same time.

"No, you go first," Faith said.

Sirius shook his head. "No you, I insist."

It was Faith's turn to shake her head. she didn't want to say anything until she heard what she had to say. Trying to find a way to put it so he wouldn't refuse, she said "For the sake of respecting your elders and all that cra-stuff, you should go first."

And if she thought a show of politeness (or in Faith's case an attempt at politeness, she really wasn't too good with things like that) would make Sirius Black readily agree then she was way off the mark. "What? Are you suggesting that I'm old?" Sirius challenged, with a glint in his eyes.

Faith couldn't help it; she began to laugh. Not because anything was really funny and definitely not because this meeting with Sirius was going the way that she'd thought it would but because she'd just realized the sheer strangeness and absurdity of the whole situation. For pretty much the same reason, Sirius joined in.

"This is weird, isn't it?" Sirius asked when they had both quieted down.

"So weird," Faith readily admitted.

"I must say, I never thought I'd find myself in such a predicament. You know, trying to come up with something to say to your grown up daughter whom you're meeting for the first time. Well, not until I found out about you," he corrected himself. "Then I thought about it a lot."

"How long ago was that?" Faith asked before she could stop herself.

"A couple of months ago. This past winter," he answered

"And what?" Faith said, not even trying to stop the sarcasm that was creeping into her voice. "You decided to put off meeting me until you figured something out?"

"No," Sirius said gently. "Finding you took a long time."

"Even with all your magic?" Faith asked skeptically.

Sirius frowned. "Surprisingly, yes. For some reason, we weren't able to track you magically. It was almost as if you had cloaked yourself."

"Cloaked myself?"

Abruptly Sirius remembered that she'd just been introduced the wizarding world and didn't have that much knowledge about such things. "It means that you hid your essence. That's what a wizard or witch looks for when they're trying to find somebody. Of course, there are a lot of people out there who don't want to be found so they charm themselves to hide their essence. Their essence doesn't disappear it just changes. Sort of like somebody wearing a cloak to keep themselves from being recognized, hence the term."

To her utmost surprise, Faith actually understood what he was saying what's more she found it intriguing. _Maybe this whole witch thing isn't so bad_, she thought to herself. Out loud, she mused, "It must be a part of the whole Slayer deal."

"S-Slayer deal?" Sirius asked.

Faith turned to look at him. "Narcissa didn't tell you that I'm a Slayer?"

"No, she most certainly did not." Sirius said stoutly when he finally recovered his ability to speak. "You're the Slayer?"

"A Slayer," Faith said. "There' another Slayer. The gist of that is she died so another Slayer was called but by that time she had been brought back to life. The Slayer that was called died recently and I was called."

Sirius nodded to show he understood. Like Narcissa had told Faith earlier, the wizarding world was no stranger to the Slayer so he wasn't too thrown off guard. However, he was a little disturbed about the circumstances of things. Just recently, The Order had been thinking about getting the Slayer involved in the war against Voldemort. He'd been one of the people who'd pushed for it. Now as fate would have it, his daughter whom he'd barely just met turned out to be the Slayer or at least one of them. He wasn't too sure exactly what that meant and made up his mind to talk to Dumbledore about this as soon as possible. Outside of Narcissa, Andromeda and Remus, he was the only other person who knew about Faith's existence. A fact that would change for sure if she were to get involved in the Wizarding War. He was brought of his musings as he heard Faith call his name.

"I'm sorry what did you say?" he asked.

"Umm, the thing is, I just," Faith mumbled looking everywhere but at his face. "Thankyouforlettingmestayhere." She rushed.

Having not have been expecting that, Sirius was at loss for words. What exactly, he wondered, did one say to that? Do? His first impulse was to hug her, pull her close to him. She looked so discomfited, so lonely, so _young_ that he felt this overwhelming need to comfort her, to reassure her. _So this is what it feels like to be a parent_, he thought in amazement. "You don't have to thank me. This is your home," he finally settled for, patting her hand.

And just like that the young venerable woman was gone. "Okay, I don't want seem rude or anything, cos I'm really grateful that you're letting me crash at your place but we got to get one thing straight," she said pulling her hand away. "I'm big girl, I'm not looking for somebody to take care of me. I'm not waiting for you to make up for all the past birthdays and Christmases and all that stuff that you weren't there for. I don't need you to fix my boo-boos, or kiss me goodnight or tuck me in or any of the shit. You're my father," it took all she had to force the word out, "there's no denying that, but I think we'll get along much better if you realize that I rather we don't do the whole father/daughter relationship thing."

Sirius didn't believe a word she was saying but now was not the time to point that out. Instead he said, "Well, that's relief because to be completely honest, I don't know the first thing about being a father," he said grinning broadly.

She looked bewildered by that at first then little by little she started to grin back.

It wasn't a declaration of love and undying devotion, but it was a start.

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**A/N: **I'm pretty sure that did not go how a lot of people where expecting the whole Sirius/Faith meeting to go but I felt like it was necessary. Then there's the fact that I spent a lot more time back with the scoobies then with the wizarding world. The reason for this is that since we're not going to be seeing from them for a while I felt like I needed some kind of closure, especially with Buffy and Angel. But don't think for a second that we've heard the last of them or their problems! Getting back to Faith and her newfound family, just because Sirius feels like they are making headway doesn't guarantee that everything will be steady sailing from now on, far from it. And it'll only get more complicated when Harry's finally introduced to his big sister (I foresee a huge temper tantrum that involves the breakage of things, on both sides). I can hardly wait! Review and tell me what you think and/or what you'd like to see in the fic and I'll see what I can do! Take care.

-TDL


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